Rights group accuses Nigeria of rampant torture

Nigeria’s security authorities regularly engage in acts of torture to extract criminal confessions from innocent civilians and further the government’s campaign against the armed group Boko Haram, rights group Amnesty International said in a report published on Thursday.

The report, "Welcome to Hell Fire: Torture and Other Ill Treatment in Nigeria," called for the Nigerian government to criminalize torture. Though the practice is prohibited by Nigeria's constitution, there are no laws on the books to punish offenders. As a result, Amnesty said, Nigeria has cultivated a culture of impunity for offenders.

Victims and witnesses described to the rights group a regimented police program of delivering physical pain to Nigerians, including many children, suspected or merely accused of crimes. Among the many tactics used, the report said, are “nail and tooth extractions, choking, electric shocks and sexual violence.”

Amnesty’s report, the result of 10 years of research, said that Nigeria’s army also employs torture in its pursuit of Boko Haram, a loose coalition of fighters struggling to establish an Islamic caliphate in the north. The group, according to Amnesty, routinely carries out deadly attacks and bombings against civilians, and was responsible for kidnapping hundreds of schoolgirls earlier this year.

Due to the Nigerian government’s escalating conflict with the armed group, the number of innocent civilians swept up by army raids has increased dramatically in recent years, with anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000 people detained by the army since 2009, the report said.

Torture victim Mahmood, 15, told Amnesty that soldiers detained him and 50 others – mostly teens – in a military sweep. They beat him, burned him with molten plastic and forced him to watch the execution of other prisoners, the report said, before he was released three weeks later.

“This goes far beyond the appalling torture and killing of suspected Boko Haram members,” said Netsanet Belay, a top Amnesty researcher.

“Across the country, the scope and severity of torture inflicted on Nigeria’s women, men and children by the authorities supposed to protect them is shocking to even the most hardened human rights observer,” he said.

Deeply corrupt, the Nigerian security forces do very little to combat abuses by officers, Amnesty said, with some of the worst offenders serving in a Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) and Criminal Investigations Division (CID).

Police corruption has exacerbated the problem, according to the report. For example, Nigerian police officers regularly employ torture tactics to extract bribes from people they arrest. The implementation of torture takes a particularly heartless toll on poor people and women in Nigeria.

“Suspects without money are also less likely to be able to access a lawyer, family members or medical treatment,” the report said.

“Rape by police is a common method of torture inflicted primarily on women,” the report added. “Sex workers and women believed to be sex workers are particularly targeted by the police either for financial bribes or rape.”

When women cannot pay fines or bribes, usually a few thousand Nigerian naira, they face the prospect of rape by police officers in the form of sex that is either forced or coerced, sometimes with the promise of a leniency if the women comply, the report said.

Describing her experience with police rape, Lagos sex worker Kemi said: “The policemen even invited their friends from their houses to sleep with the girls before allowing them to go. I can recognize the policemen now because they come here every day. It appears they come here whenever they want money or sex.”

There are some signs that the Nigerian government has started to recognize the crimes. In February 2012, the chief of Nigeria's police force at the time, Mohammed Abubakar, decried the prevalence of torture and abuse in his ranks.

"Justice has been perverted, people's rights denied, innocent souls committed to prison, torture and extrajudicial killings perpetrated," Abubakar told Agence France-Presse. He called the country's anti-theft task force "killer teams," lamenting how corrupt police practices had eroded trust between officers and citizens. Abubakar added that the government had started some programs to educate officials in respecting human rights.

In its report, Amnesty called on the Nigerian government to investigate torture allegations, criminalize the practice and crack down on offenders.  

“Our message to the Nigerian authorities today is clear – criminalize torture, end incommunicado detention and fully investigate allegations of abuse,” Belay said.

Until reforms are implemented, Amnesty believes that abuses like sexual assault will continue.

“The worst thing is that they always refuse to wear condoms,” Kemi, the sex worker, said.

“That is why most girls prefer to pay them the N5,000 [$30] rather than allow them to have their way,” Kemi said. “Policemen have raped most of the girls here but I am not sure any of them will admit to that in your presence.”

With news services