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NIGERIA
‘WAITING FOR THE HANGMAN’
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According to the Prison Act, the Superintendent is responsible for “maintaining the gallows at
all times in a proper condition and ready for use. He shall carefully examine the condition and
mechanisms of the gallows from time to time and, in any case, on the last working day before
the sheriff assumes responsibility prior to an execution.” 165
A prisoner under sentence of death is allowed “such amount of alcoholic stimulant as the
medical officer may consider necessary.” 166
After execution, the prisoner’s body is buried in “the prescribed place”, unless permission
is given to return the body to friends or relatives. 167
Convicts sentenced to death under Shari’a law are to be stoned to death. If a convict has not
appealed within the time prescribed by law (30 days), a governor can affirm the sentence and
ask for the execution to be carried out.
THE DEATH PENALTY IN INTERNATIONAL LAW
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognizes each person’s right to life.
Furthermore, it states that “No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment or punishment.” 168
Article 6 of the ICCPR also guarantees the right to life. The second provision of this article
states: “In countries which have not abolished the death penalty, sentence of death may be
imposed only for the most serious crimes in accordance with the law in force at the time of the
commission of the crime …. This penalty can only be carried out pursuant to a final judgment
rendered by a competent court.” The second Optional Protocol to the ICCPR (which Nigeria
has not ratified) aims at the abolition of the death penalty.
The UN Human Rights Committee has stated: “The Committee is of the opinion that the
expression ‘most serious crimes’ must be read restrictively to mean that the death penalty should
be a quite exceptional measure.” 169 The Committee said that the following offences cannot be
characterized as the “most serious crimes” under the ICCPR: economic offences, political offences,
robbery, abduction not resulting in death, illicit sex, committing a homosexual act, and apostasy.
The Committee also stated that Article 6 “refers generally to abolition [of the death penalty] in
terms which strongly suggest... that abolition is desirable. The Committee concludes that all
measures of abolition should be considered as progress in the enjoyment of the right to life”. 170
Under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the death penalty is excluded,
even though the Court has jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes.
The UN Economic and Social Council, the UN Human Rights Committee and the UN
Commission on Human Rights have all urged UN member states to make public information
on their use of the death penalty, including the offences for which it is authorized and full
details of its imposition. 171
Index: AFR 44/020/2008 Amnesty International October 2008