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NIGERIA
‘WAITING FOR THE HANGMAN’
53
obligations and standards, including the provisions of the ICCPR, the UN Body of
Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment,
the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the UN Standard
Minimum Rules for the Administration of Juvenile Justice.
Recommendations to the Council of States
Encourage the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the National
Study Group on Death Penalty and those of the Presidential Committee on Reform of
the Administration of Justice, in particular the establishment of a moratorium on
executions and the commutation of all death sentences.
Encourage the immediate implementation of the (2007) announcement by the Federal
Minister of Information that Nigeria had granted amnesty to all prisoners over 70 and to
those aged 60 or over who had been on death row for 10 years or more.
Recommendations to state governments
All state governments should take steps to abolish the death penalty and, pending
abolition, should take the following steps as a matter of urgency:
Immediately declare a moratorium on all executions as provided by the UN
General Assembly resolution 62/149 and recommended by the National Study Group
on Death Penalty and the Presidential Committee on Reform of the Administration
of Justice.
Commute without delay all death sentences to terms of imprisonment.
Urgently consider all cases of death row inmates who were juvenile offenders,
those who were sentenced to death by tribunals, seriously ill inmates, including mentally
ill and elderly inmates, with a view to commutation.
Ensure that all prisoners on death row who have never appealed are provided with
the opportunity to appeal without delay.
Improve the legal services for suspects in capital cases who can not afford a
private lawyer.
Recommendations to the State Houses of Assembly
All State Houses should take steps to abolish the death penalty and, pending abolition,
should take the following steps as a matter of urgency:
Index: AFR 44/020/2008 Amnesty International October 2008