Nigerian Police Responsible For Unlawful Killings In Nigeria - Amnesty International

                                 

Copied From The Nation Newspaper

The Amnesty International has accused the police of being responsible for hundreds of unlawful killings in Nigeria. In its annual report for this year on the state of human rights, it said the country’s human rights situation has deteriorated. Amnesty said the justice system remained ineffective, with around two thirds of all prison inmates still awaiting trial. There were 982 people on death row and no executions were reported, it said. 
It noted that forced evictions continued throughout the country, and violence against women remained rife,
 even as violent attacks attributed to the religious sect Boko Haram increased, killing more than 500 people.
Amnesty said corruption remained endemic, while police operations remained characterised by human rights violations. It gave several instances.
The report said: “Hundreds of people were unlawfully killed, often before or during arrests on the street. Others were tortured to death in police detention. Many such unlawful killings may have constituted extrajudicial executions. 
“Many people disappeared from police custody. Few police officers were held accountable, leaving relatives of those killed or disappeared without justice. 
“Police increasingly wore plain clothes or uniforms without identification, making it much harder for people to complain about individual officers. Special task forces, including the Special Anti Robbery Squads and SOS, committed a wide range of human rights violations. 
“In early 2011, the Bayelsa State government set up Operation Famou Tangbe – “kill and throw away” in the local language – to fight crime. Many officers linked to the operation reportedly unlawfully killed, tortured, arbitrarily arrested and detained people. Suspects in detention reportedly had no access to their lawyers or relatives.”
Amnesty said the police frequently disobeyed court orders. For instance, it allegedly refused to release Mallam Aliyu Tasheku, a suspected Boko Haram member, after a court granted him bail on March 28. He was finally released in July.
“There were consistent reports of police routinely torturing suspects to extract information. Confessions extracted under torture were used as evidence in court, in violation of national and international laws,” Amnesty said.
Amnesty said the government did not publicise the findings of a report on the July 2009 clashes between Boko Haram and security forces, in which more than 800 people died, including 24 police officers and Boko Haram’s leader, Muhammad Yusuf. 
It added the police and security forces rounded up scores of people in relation to violence in the North, but few were successfully prosecuted or convicted. 
“Previous commissions of inquiry into the Plateau State violence reportedly named suspected perpetrators, but no criminal investigations were started during the year,” Amnesty said.
Amnesty said 72 people were sentenced to death in the past year, with 982 people on death row, including 16 women. Fifty-five people had their sentences commuted and 11 were pardoned. No executions were reported. 
“Many death row inmates were sentenced following blatantly unfair trials or after more than a decade in prison awaiting trial,” it said.
On violence against women and girls and children’s rights, Amnesty said the authorities consistently failed to prevent and address sexual violence, or to hold perpetrators to account.
“Children continued to be detained with adults in police and prison cells. The country’s one functioning remand home remained overcrowded.
“No investigation was carried out into the violent clash on 29 December 2009 in Bauchi, in which 22 children were killed. Many were reportedly shot by the police,” the report said.
 Amnesty said freedom of expression was curtailed, and a pattern emerged of intimidation and attacks against human rights defenders and journalists, with several being threatened, beaten or arrested by police and security forces.
On the Nigeria Delta, Amnesty said environmental laws and regulations were poorly enforced, partly due to government agencies being compromised by conflicts of interest.
“In August, the UN Environment Programme revealed the devastating human and environmental effects of decades of oil spills in Ogoniland. It found the contamination to be widespread and severe, and stated that people in the Niger Delta have been exposed to it for decades,” said Amnesty.