HRW
Report Raps Nigeria
Human Rights Watch condemns Nigeria for continuing rights abuses. But at the Commonwealth people’s marketplace writers gather to celebrate their new freedom. Two views, two reports.
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THE NIGERIAN government has been responsible for killings,
torture, and harassment of its critics over the last two years,
Human Rights Watch charged in a report published Tuesday.
Human Rights Watch urged Commonwealth leaders meeting in
Abuja this week to raise concerns about the crackdown on freedom
of expression in the country.
“Foreign governments remained virtually silent about
election violence in Nigeria, yet abuses during the Zimbabwe
elections provoked widespread condemnation,” said Peter
Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division of
Human Rights Watch. “Unless the Commonwealth addresses
abuses in all of its member countries and denounces them accordingly,
it will stand accused of maintaining double standards and
its credibility will be undermined. There is no excuse for
Commonwealth leaders to turn a blind eye to human rights abuses
in the very country where they are meeting.”
The 40-page HRW report, ‘Nigeria: Renewed Crackdown
on Freedom of Expression’ documents killings, arrest,
detention, ill-treatment, torture and other forms of harassment
and intimidation of “real or perceived critics of the
government” over the past two years. Most of these abuses
have been carried out by the Nigerian police or by members
of the intelligence services known as the State Security Service
(SSS), the report says.
“Commonwealth leaders meeting in Abuja should not give
Nigeria a free pass on human rights,” said Takirambudde.
“Even though military rule has ended, Nigerians still
cannot express themselves freely without fear of grave consequences.”
Brutal measures have been used to repress critical expression,
the HRW report says. “In the most serious cases, people
have been shot dead simply for exercising their right to protest.
During massive public protests in July at an increase in the
price of fuel, between 12 and 20 people were shot dead by
the police in Lagos, in the oil city of Port Harcourt, and
on the outskirts of Abuja. The victims included peaceful protestors
and passersby who were not even involved in the protests.”
The report also contains the testimonies of individuals who
were among a group of around 30 people arrested after staging
a peaceful protest outside the U.S. embassy in Abuja against
U.S. President George W. Bush’s visit to Nigeria in
July. They were detained for two weeks and several were tortured
on direct instructions from the highest levels of the police
force.
“President Obasanjo’s promises of democracy mean
little as long as people are being detained, tortured and
shot simply for expressing views critical of the government,”
said Takirambudde. “No one has been brought to justice
for these acts.”
The Human Rights Watch report also talks of the harassment
of opposition party supporters and other political activists
since the April and May elections, in which President Obasanjo
and his ruling People’s Democratic Party won a comfortable
victory.
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