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30 NIGERIA ‘WAITING FOR THE HANGMAN’ ARTHUR JUDAH ANGEL “I have once witnessed the execution of 58 in one day” © Amnesty International Arthur Judah Angel, former death row prisoner, with some of his drawings depicting life on death row in Enugu prison. Date of arrest: 21 January 1984 Sentenced to death: 7 February 1986 Appeal: yes Date of release: 2000 Age at time of arrest: 21 years Number of years on death row: almost 10 years Number of years in prison: 16 years “I was arrested for an offence I never committed. I was at the police station to visit a friend who was in police custody. I was saying my friend should not be arrested and I was arrested as well. Then the police asked my family to pay an amount they could not pay. I was charged to court, there was nobody, no complainant to say I robbed him so I was given a murder case. All my complainants were police. At the end of the day I was given six days of trial, on the seventh day I was sentenced to death. The issue of having lawyers did not count much. I filed an appeal, I lost it. But my lawyer never showed up one day. Even when the Supreme Court gave me 30 days grace, my lawyer never showed up. The Supreme Court upheld the conviction of the lower court. On death row we were not allowed to use pen and papers. The only way to keep record is to write it on the wall. When was John or Mac hanged? You go there you will see it on the wall. We had someone in the cell who was the librarian; he would refer us to where it was written on the wall. Enugu prison death row cells are like holes in hell. We had 18 cells on death row, windowless cells. The largest out of them measured 7 by 8 feet. Including the space the toilet bucket occupied. It was so congested we were locked up in our cell. We sleep like locks. You can’t find space to stretch your legs. We wake up every morning with bad dreams. Uneasy sleeps we had in the night. From Monday till Friday you don’t know what will happen, we wait for the hangman. If you survive it from 8 hour clock till 12 noon, you wait for tomorrow. I have once witnessed the execution of 58 in one day. I was once prepared for execution, given my last meal, chained, but on the end of the day my name was removed from the list, it was 2 August 1994. Such experiences kill a death row inmate slowly. For 9 years and 6 months it was like that for me.” Amnesty International October 2008 Index: AFR 44/020/2008
NIGERIA ‘WAITING FOR THE HANGMAN’ 31 5/EXECUTIONS: THE ULTIMATE CRUEL PUNISHMENT ‘Sixty-five days in chains, weeks of starvation, months of mental torture… a kangaroo court… where the proceedings leave no doubt that the judgment has been written in advance. And a sentence of death against which there is no appeal is a certainty.’ Letter from Ken Saro-Wiwa, Mail and Guardian, May 1995 One of the most notorious executions in Nigeria is that of Ken Saro-Wiwa, leader of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People 111 , and eight other Ogoni activists: Baribor Bera, Saturday Doobee, Nordu Eawo, Daniel Gbokoo, Barinem Kiobel, John Kpuinen, Paul Levura and Felix Nuate. 112 © Amnesty International In February and March 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and 14 other accused were brought before a special tribunal appointed by General Abacha to stand trial for murder. They had been held incommunicado in harsh conditions, and were denied medical treatment having spent long periods in chains. On 30 and 31 October 1995, nine of the accused were convicted and sentenced to death; six others were acquitted. They were denied the right of appeal. On 10 November 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa and the eight others were hanged in Port Harcourt Prison. 113 Ken Saro-Wiwa, one of nine Ogoni community activists executed after a grossly unfair trial in 1995. Index: AFR 44/020/2008 Amnesty International October 2008
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