Traumatised inmates heard screams and thuds from the
gallows as Nigerian authorities hanged four convicted criminals on
Monday in the West African nation's first known executions since 2006,
said a human rights lawyer on Tuesday.
A fifth man is yet to be hanged at Benin City Prison after the executioner had technical problems with the gallows, Chino Obiagwu of the national lawyers' rights group Lepad told Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Amnesty International said the man, identified as Thankgod Ebhos by Obiagwu, was at "imminent risk of execution".
The London-based organisation's deputy Africa director, Lucy Freeman, said the hangings would mark a "truly dark day for human rights" in the nation.
Attorney general Henry Idahagbon of southern Edo state confirmed the four executions, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported.
Obiagwu said the men were hanged despite pending suits at the appeal court and had been on death row for 16 years. He said two were his clients, convicted of murder, but he did not know the crimes of the other sentenced men.
"Under Nigerian laws, an appeal and application for stay of execution should restrain further action. By executing the prisoners, Nigeria's government has demonstrated a gross disregard to the rule of law and respect for the judicial process," he said.
Read more here.
A fifth man is yet to be hanged at Benin City Prison after the executioner had technical problems with the gallows, Chino Obiagwu of the national lawyers' rights group Lepad told Associated Press in a telephone interview.
Amnesty International said the man, identified as Thankgod Ebhos by Obiagwu, was at "imminent risk of execution".
The London-based organisation's deputy Africa director, Lucy Freeman, said the hangings would mark a "truly dark day for human rights" in the nation.
Attorney general Henry Idahagbon of southern Edo state confirmed the four executions, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported.
Obiagwu said the men were hanged despite pending suits at the appeal court and had been on death row for 16 years. He said two were his clients, convicted of murder, but he did not know the crimes of the other sentenced men.
"Under Nigerian laws, an appeal and application for stay of execution should restrain further action. By executing the prisoners, Nigeria's government has demonstrated a gross disregard to the rule of law and respect for the judicial process," he said.
Read more here.
I also subscribe to the fact that "Under Nigerian laws, an appeal and application for stay of execution should restrain further action. By executing the prisoners, Nigeria's government has demonstrated a gross disregard to the rule of law and respect for the judicial process,"I don't actually know where we are heading to in this great country of our,only God can save us.
ReplyDelete