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History Of Torture In Nigeria

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AFR 44/005/2014
Under embargo until May 13th

STOP TORTURE
Country profile: Nigeria

Torture in Nigeria: In summary
Amnesty International has serious concerns about the increasing use of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in Nigeria. Recent Amnesty research indicates that police and military personnel routinely use torture and other ill-treatment to extract information and “confessions”, and to punish and exhaust detainees. In contravention of national and international law, information extracted by torture and ill-treatment is routinely accepted as evidence in court. The Nigerian authorities display an apparent lack of political will to adhere to their international human rights obligations.
This briefing …show more content…

Two years on, the bill is yet to even be debated, and so is no closer to becoming law. A similar bill proposing the establishment of an Anti-Torture Commission previously failed to pass through the National Assembly.

Force Order 237 of Nigeria’s police regulations contributes to the ongoing use of torture and other ill-treatment. Contrary to international standards on the use of force, this regulation permits police officers to shoot suspects and detainees who attempt to escape or avoid arrest – whether or not the detainee poses a threat to life. In practice, however, Force Order 237 is often used to justify shootings, with an officer able to use a gun and then claim it was necessary because a detainee was attempting to escape.

Methods of torture
“The army carry out all sorts of torture, using whatever means are available to them. They hang people, at times until they die. They use rifle butts and sticks to beat people. They also shoot people in the legs and leave them to bleed. They tie people’s hands behind their backs with rope, so many people are unable to use their hands after they are released. Some people die even after they have been …show more content…

Suleiman Ali was 15 when he was arrested by soldiers in northern Nigeria and taken to Sector Alpha in Damaturu, Yobe State – a facility known locally as “Guantanamo”.

Suleiman told Amnesty International that he was beaten with gun butts, batons and machetes, and had melted plastic and cold water poured on him. He also says he was forced to watch the extrajudicial executions of other detainees and made to walk and roll over broken bottles.

Suleiman was one of 50 people, mostly aged between 13 and 19, arrested in March 2013 on suspicion of being a member of Boko Haram, an armed Islamist group. The arrests followed the killing of a soldier by unknown gunmen. Suleiman was detained for three weeks without being charged, and prevented from contacting his lawyers and family.

Along with 31 other detainees, Suleiman was released in April 2013. Within a week, 30 of those people had died. Suleiman needed emergency medical treatment and was psychologically traumatised, but he survived. Amnesty International spoke to relatives of some of the men who did not survive: they blamed the deaths on torture and a lack of medical

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