Nigeria is illegally holding hundreds of people
suspected of participation in violence by the radical Boko sect in inhuman
conditions and without access to lawyers, an international rights group,
Amnesty International, warned yesterday. The report released
by Amnesty International alleges most of those imprisoned around the country
are held without criminal charges and suggests that some have been summarily
executed by security forces before facing trial.Some of those
detained told the rights group that they were shackled for days, forced to sit
in their own excrement in overcrowded cells while watching other prisoners get
beaten and coerced into confessions.
However, in a swift
reaction, the Nigeria Police Force yesterday faulted the methodology adopted by
the Amnesty International on the abuses of human rights by security agencies in
trying to curtail the excesses of the Boko Haram menace in the North.
In a statement,
Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, CSP Frank Mba said, “A recent Amnesty
International Report dated November, 2012 has just been received by relevant
authority of the Nigeria Police Force.
As a responsible
law enforcement agency, the Nigeria Police Force takes all criticisms against its
organization seriously. Consequently, the Police Authority has begun a
comprehensive and critical study of the report with a view to establishing its
veracity and relevance vis-à-vis our contemporary security challenges and needs.
“Bearing in mind
that the Force has no monopoly of knowledge, the Police High Command (on the
strength of the Report) will not hesitate to accept honest and factual
recommendations (if any) contained therein and initiate appropriate reforms
where necessary.
“However, the Force
is deeply concerned over a key research methodology adopted by Amnesty
International in compiling its report. The fact that most of the sources of the
content of the report are “not named”, (and thus not open to confirmation or
reconciliation) puts the authenticity, credibility and legitimacy of the report
in question.
“Nevertheless, the
Nigeria Police will continue to do everything humanly possible to improve the
capacity and efficiency of its service delivery especially as it relates to its
core responsibility of protecting lives and property.
The Force will also
continue to initiate and improve on policies designed to strengthen the
essential values of democratic policing which includes: transparency,
accountability, respect for the fundamental human rights of all citizens and
the promotion of a strong professional ethics within the Force.
“In this regard,
the Force will at all times, reward excellent deeds by its men, while at the
same time, holding accountable those found wanting in the discharge of their
statutory duties, bearing in mind that no organization – including Amnesty
International- is perfect”.
In its report,
Amnesty also blamed both the Nigerian government and the Boko Haram sect of
likely committing crimes against humanity as the guerrilla conflict engulfing
the nation's Muslim north continues to kills civilians.
"There is a
vicious cycle of violence currently taking place in Nigeria," the report
reads. "The Nigerian people are trapped in the middle."
Security forces
routinely deny committing abuses, though the nation has a long history of
abuses and extrajudicial killings being carried out by police officers
and soldiers.
Military
spokesman Col. Mohammed Yerima said soldiers do hold prisoners, but only to do
a "thorough job" investigating their backgrounds. He said some had
falsely reported neighbors as Boko Haram members out of petty disputes.
"We don't
torture people. We interrogate them and find out if they are members of the
Boko Haram," Yerima told The Associated Press. "We don't have any
concentration camp that they are talking about. All we have is offices where we
work."
The Amnesty report
comes as both Nigeria's government and Boko Haram faces increasing
international condemnation. Violence blamed on Boko Haram has killed more than
720 people this year alone, according to an AP account — the deadliest year
since the sect began its attacks in 2009. A Human Rights Watch report in
October also accused Nigerian security forces and Boko Haram of likely
committing crimes against humanity in their fighting.
The Amnesty report
includes claims of killings, house burnings and rapes carried out by security
forces, allegations that have trailed the government's response to Boko Haram
for months. Amnesty estimates that more than 200 suspected Boko Haram members
are being held at a barracks in Maiduguri, while more than 100 others are being
held at a police station in Abuja. Dozens of others probably are being held at
the headquarters of the State Security Service, Nigeria's secret police, and
others elsewhere, Amnesty said.
Those held largely
do not know where they are detained, cannot contact their families or speak to
lawyers, in contravention of Nigerian law, Amnesty said. Many are shackled
together for nearly the entire day, the report said. Those held at the police
station in Abuja are kept in a former slaughterhouse where chains still hang
from the ceiling, the rights group said.
"There were
shots in the night. I was hearing the shot of guns but I didn't know what they
are doing," said one former detainee at the police station quoted in the
Amnesty report.
"When (the
police) were collecting statements, some of us cannot speak English, and some
of the officers cannot speak our language, so those that have difficulty, they
have been beaten ... Our lives were — we were not alive. We had no food, no
water and no bath."
Others told Amnesty
that soldiers beat at least one prisoner with an electrical cable, while others
were denied access to medicine and care. In the report, Amnesty said it
requested to see prisons, police stations, military detention centers and
holding cells of the Nigeria's secret police, but did not get access to the
facilities.
Source: Compass
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