Almost 1,000 inmates die in Nigerian prisons
Image: REX Features
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Amnesty International has expressed shock at the large number of inmates that have died in Nigerian prisons.
The group claims that 950 inmates, most of them suspected Boko Haram members, have died in Nigerian prisons since the beginning of 2013.
National Mirror reports that some victims had been sentenced to death, but most of them died because of the poor conditions in Nigerian prisons.
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According to a statement by Lucy Freeman, the human rights watchdog’s deputy Africa director, many of the deaths were reported in states where the military is still battling the Boko Haram insurgency.
"A large proportion of these deaths are reported to have happened in Giwa military barracks, Maiduguri in Borno State and Sector Alpha, commonly referred to as ‘Guantanamo’ and Presidential Lodge (known as ‘Guardroom’) in Damaturu, Yobe State.
"According to former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International, people died on an almost daily basis in both Giwa and Sector Alpha from suffocation or other injuries due to overcrowding and starvation. Some suffered serious injuries due to severe beating and eventually died in detention due to lack of medical attention and treatment.
"These interviews also revealed that in some cases detainees in these facilities may have been extra-judicially executed. Some described soldiers taking detainees from their cells threatening to shoot and kill them. In many cases, the detainees never returned.
Freeman has tasked the Federal Government with investigating the inmates’ deaths.
"The evidence we’ve gathered suggests that hundreds of people died in military custody in 2013 alone. This is a staggeringly high figure that requires urgent action by the Nigerian government.
"The details of what happens behind locked doors in these shadowy detention facilities must be exposed, and those responsible for any human rights violations brought to book."
National Mirror reports that some victims had been sentenced to death, but most of them died because of the poor conditions in Nigerian prisons.
Continue...
According to a statement by Lucy Freeman, the human rights watchdog’s deputy Africa director, many of the deaths were reported in states where the military is still battling the Boko Haram insurgency.
"A large proportion of these deaths are reported to have happened in Giwa military barracks, Maiduguri in Borno State and Sector Alpha, commonly referred to as ‘Guantanamo’ and Presidential Lodge (known as ‘Guardroom’) in Damaturu, Yobe State.
"According to former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International, people died on an almost daily basis in both Giwa and Sector Alpha from suffocation or other injuries due to overcrowding and starvation. Some suffered serious injuries due to severe beating and eventually died in detention due to lack of medical attention and treatment.
"These interviews also revealed that in some cases detainees in these facilities may have been extra-judicially executed. Some described soldiers taking detainees from their cells threatening to shoot and kill them. In many cases, the detainees never returned.
Freeman has tasked the Federal Government with investigating the inmates’ deaths.
"The evidence we’ve gathered suggests that hundreds of people died in military custody in 2013 alone. This is a staggeringly high figure that requires urgent action by the Nigerian government.
"The details of what happens behind locked doors in these shadowy detention facilities must be exposed, and those responsible for any human rights violations brought to book."
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