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NIGERIA
‘WAITING FOR THE HANGMAN’
3
1/INTRODUCTION
‘Death penalty is wrong. It is an instrument
of vengeance, not justice... I think it belongs
to the past.’
Owens Wiwa, brother of executed Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa, speaking in July 2008
The 720-plus men and 11 women “waiting for the hangman” in Nigeria’s prisons have one
thing in common, beyond not knowing when they will be put to death. They are poor. From
their first contact with the police, through the trial process, to seeking pardon, those with the
fewest resources are at a serious disadvantage in Nigeria’s criminal justice system. And some
will pay with their life.
Some death row prisoners were arrested when they went to a police station because they
knew a suspect or had witnessed a crime. Many said the police rounded them up and then
demanded money for their release. Sometimes police asked for money for fuel, without which
they could not go and see witnesses or check alibis. Overstretched and under-resourced,
the police rely heavily on confessions rather than investigations. And in many cases they use
torture to force suspects to sign these statements.
More than half of all the death row prisoners in Nigeria were sentenced to death on the basis
of a confessional statement. 1 Some tried to challenge the statement in court, but the trial judge
refused to believe them when they said they had been tortured and insisted that the statement
should stand. Some death row prisoners had no lawyer at all – others said that their lawyer
either did not argue their case, or was silenced by the trial judge. Often, lawyers were not
allowed to see documents vital to the case until the trial started. About 80 death row prisoners
were convicted by Robbery and Firearms Tribunals with no right of appeal to a higher court.
These trials fell far short of international standards of fair trial.
Index: AFR 44/020/2008 Amnesty International October 2008