Ex-prisoner tells diplomats Nicaragua holding families 'hostage'

FILE PHOTO: An aircraft carrying some of the more than 200 political prisoners released from Nicaragua and flown to the United States, sits at a gate at Dulles International Airport in Virginia outside Washington, U.S., in this still image taken from video February 9, 2023. Courtesy WJLA TV via ABC via REUTERS

(Reuters) - "I said I would hand myself in, but the police kicked down the gate," Tamara Davila, a formerly jailed Nicaraguan activist on Wednesday told regional diplomats looking into allegations of abuses by President Daniel Ortega's government.

Davila is one of 222 political prisoners who were flown to the United States last month in a mass release, after which many were stripped of their Nicaraguan citizenship.