El Salvador clears way for mass trials as crackdown on gangs ramps up

A handout picture released by the El Salvador's presidency shows inmates belonging to the MS-13 and 18 gangs at a new prison in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in March. Photograph: El Salvador's Presidency Press O/AFP/Getty Images

Nayib Bukele’s government has already locked up 2% of El Salvador’s adult population and built the largest prison in the Americas to house the 70,000 alleged gang members he has imprisoned.

Now the populist leader has cleared the way for mass trials of hundreds of people at a time as he steps up his year-long crackdown on the country’s gangs which critics say is eroding the rule of law and leading to many innocent people being wrongly jailed.