Ise-Oluwa Ige
16 July 2008
Lagos — THE Amnesty International yesterday asked President Umaru Musa Yar'Adua to suspend execution of hundreds of convicts presently on death row pending the abrogation of death penalty from the nation's statute book.
Amnesty International is a global human rights body committed to upholding of sanctity of human lives and eradication of death penalty all over the world. Addressing journalists in Abuja yesterday, the organisation's Nigeria Researcher, Ms Aster Van Kregten said that most of the convicts on death row were not given fair trial before they were condemned.
According to statistics obtained from the Federal Ministry of Justice, "there are 736 condemned prisoners spread across Nigerian prisons as at February 2008.
"Out of this figure, 725 are men while the remaining 11 are women. Some had spent up to 15 years in prison waiting for the executioners to come. We note that the Nigerian criminal justice system can not guarantee a fair trial in capital cases", Kregten added.
According to Amnesty International's research, the Nigeria Police Force continues to torture and extra-judicially executes detainees, suspected criminals and armed robbers.
Kregten who claimed to have spoken to hundreds of Nigerian prisoners said that some of them were condemned by tribunals and were not given the opportunity to challenge their conviction on appeal.
She said, "We know of, at least, seven death row prisoners who were hanged during the past two years.
"We also believe that at least one execution might have taken place in Port Harcourt prison."
She further stated that on 30th May 2006, Mr. Kenneth Ekhone and Mr Auwalu Musa were hanged in Kaduna Central Prison. According to her, they were tried and convicted by the Kano State Robbery and Firearms Tribunal No. 2. They were not offered the services of lawyer throughout the proceedings, nor were they given any opportunity to appeal against the judgment.
"We call on the Nigerian government to demonstrate its commitment to respect human rights at the national level and adopt a moratorium on executions, incorporate the provisions of the UN Convention against Torture," she said.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
