El Salvador has announced prison sentences for hundreds of convicted gang members, with some of them receiving centuries-long terms.
A campaign against crime gangs spearheaded by President Nayib Bukele in recent years has reduced homicide rates in the Central American country to historic lows, but human rights groups accuse the authorities of committing abuses.
The attorney general's office said in a post on X that 248 members of the notorious Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) street gang had received "exemplary sentences" for crimes including 43 homicides and 42 disappearances.
It did not specify the date of each sentencing or whether the accused had been tried altogether.
One individual was sentenced to 1,335 years in prison, while 10 others received prison terms ranging from 463 to 958 years, the post said.
Since March 2022, Bukele has been cracking down on gangs under a state of emergency that allows for arrests without warrants.
More than 90,000 people have been detained, and some 8,000 have been released after being found not guilty, according to official sources.
According to rights group Socorro Juridico Humanitario, 454 Salvadorans have died in prisons since the crackdown began.
The Salvadoran government says MS-13 and another gang, Barrio 18, are responsible for the deaths of approximately 200,000 people over the course of three decades.
