read the report - Amnesty International

70
NIGERIA
‘WAITING FOR THE HANGMAN’
91 Amnesty International interview, Abuja, 17 July 2008.
92 Amnesty International and LEDAP research.
93 Human Rights Committee, General Comment 6, para 7.
94 Lagos Court of Appeal, Peter Nemi v the State, 30 July 1996,
CA/L/221/95. “The aspect that a condemned prisoner has no right to
life cannot enforce any fundamental rights and is therefore, as good
as dead is quite perturbing. It needs some questions and comments.
Does it mean that a condemned prisoner can be lawfully starved
to death by the prison authorities? Can he be lawfully punished,
by a slow and systematic elimination of his limbs one after another,
until he is dead? Would any of these amount to inhuman treatment
or torture? Is a condemned prisoner not a person or individual?....
For to end the life of a condemned prisoner, it must be done
according to the due process of law.”
95 Amnesty International interview, Enugu, 21 July 2007.
96 National Human Rights Commission, State of Human Rights,
2005-2006.
97 LEDAP interview, Kaduna, 26 May 2008.
98 National Human Rights Commission, State of Human Rights,
2005-2006.
99 Amnesty International and LEDAP interview, Lagos, February 2008.
100 Amnesty International and LEDAP interview, Lagos, February 2008.
101 Amnesty International and LEDAP interview, Lagos, February 2008.
102 Amnesty International interview, Lagos, February 2008.
103 LEDAP, Report on Needs Assessment Survey on the Right Issues
of Nigerian Women Prisoners, 2003.
104 At 28 February 2008, there were 652 women in Nigeria’s
prisons: 504 awaiting trial, 123 convicted prisoners, 11 condemned
convicts, 3 lifers and 11 others (source: Nigeria Prison Service).
105 Amnesty International and LEDAP research, October 2007 –
July 2008.
106 Amnesty International and LEDAP interview, Lagos, 3 March 2008.
107 LEDAP interview, August 2008.
108 Amnesty International interview, Kano, 25 July 2007.
109 LEDAP research, 2006.
110 LEDAP, Report on Needs Assessment Survey on the Right Issues
of Nigerian Women Prisoners, 2003.
111 Ken Saro-Wiwa, a poet and writer, was a founder and President
of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP),
which pressed oil companies and the government to clean up
the environment and pay adequate compensation and royalties
to the oil producing regions. In May 1994, four leading members
of the Ogoni community were killed, reportedly by MOSOP
supporters. MOSOP leaders, including Ken Saro-Wiwa, were
detained, assaulted, and publicly accused by the authorities
of responsibility for the murders, an accusation they denied.
A military task force detained hundreds of MOSOP supporters
and violently raided Ogoni towns and villages.
112 The aborted Oputa Panel report stated: “The act of sentencing
those nine Ogoni leaders and eventually executing them was
widely condemned globally as extra-judicial murder by the state.”
See Volume 3, May 2002.
113 Amnesty International Nigeria: Amnesty International condemns
execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa and eight others, Index: AFR
44/031/1995.
114 Amnesty International interview, July 2008.
115 The report of the National Study Group on Death Penalty,
October 2004.
116 LEDAP interview, Kaduna, 26 May 2008.
117 Amnesty International interview, July 2008, Abuja.
118 Nigeria: Stop executions – Adopt a moratorium, Joint
Public statement by Nigerian NGOs and Amnesty International,
17 December 2007.
119 Amnesty International interview, Lagos, 3 March 2008.
120 Amnesty International and LEDAP research, 2007 – 2008.
121 Aliu Bello & Ors v The Attorney General of Oyo State, (1986)
5 NWLR (Part 45) 826.
Amnesty International October 2008 Index: AFR 44/020/2008