- Despite Nigeria's progress on democratic reforms, "Nigerian police routinely commit brutal acts of torture that have endured since the country's era of military rule," a new report by human rights groups released today claims to prove. More than 50 interviewees testified that they had been subjected to torture by Nigerian police recently.
Across Nigeria, both senior and lower-level police officers routinely commit or order the torture and mistreatment of criminal suspects, the US-based group Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 76-page report, "'Rest in Pieces': Police Torture and Deaths in Custody in Nigeria," is based on over 50 interviews with victims and witnesses of torture and is the first comprehensive study on the subject.
The report claims to documents brutal acts of torture and ill-treatment in police custody, dozens of which resulted in death. "For too long, the police in Nigeria have gotten away with murder and brutality," said Peter Takirambudde of Human Rights Watch. "If President Olusegun Obasanjo wants to show the world that he is serious about pursuing justice, he should ensure that police torturers are held accountable for their crimes," he added.
Most victims were arrested within the context of an aggressive government campaign against common crime and say they were tortured to obtain confessions. "They were tortured in local and state police stations across Nigeria, often in interrogation rooms especially equipped for the purpose," the report holds.
Forms of torture documented by Human Rights Watch included the tying of arms and legs behind the body, suspension by hands and legs from the ceiling, severe beatings with metal or wooden objects, spraying of tear gas in the eyes, shooting in the foot or leg, raping female detainees, and using pliers or electric shocks on the penis.
In addition, witnesses had reported that dozens of suspects died as a result of their injuries. Others were summarily executed in police custody, the human rights group claims to know.
The majority of the alleged torture victims were ordinary criminal suspects whose cases were characterised by an absence of due process of law. Typically, suspects were not informed by the police of the reasons for arrest, received no legal representation, and were subjected to excessive periods of pre-trial detention. Once the suspects were brought before a court, judges and magistrates often accepted confessions extracted under torture.
Police torture in Nigeria is often socially accepted because it has been common for so long. A culture of impunity has protected the perpetrators, Human Rights Watch holds. When victims and others have tried to attain accountability they have faced harassment, intimidation and obstruction by the police.
- The absence of independent mechanisms to investigate police abuses and make referrals to the prosecutor has created a serious accountability vacuum, the group warns. "This has allowed the perpetrators to evade justice." In recent years, not a single police officer has been successfully prosecuted for committing torture in Nigeria.
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