SERAP asks UN to stop execution of 54 soldiers

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has called on the United Nations to help stop the execution of 54 soldiers sentenced to death by the Nigerian Army on December 17.

A General Court Martial set up by the Army authorities had sentenced the 54 soldiers to death by firing squad for alleged offences of mutiny and conspiracy to commit mutiny.

But SERAP, in a petition dated December 23 and addressed to a group of five UN special human rights rapporteurs, and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, described the mass death sentences imposed on the soldiers as “unjust and incompatible with fundamental human rights.”

The five special rapporteurs are Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Christof Heyns; Special Rapporteur on Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Juan Méndez; and Special Rapporteur on the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-recurrence, Pablo de Greiff.

Others are Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Mads Andenas; and Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson.

A statement by SERAP on Tuesday quoted its Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, as saying that the mass trial of the soldiers did not guarantee the highest standards of fairness, due process and justice.

Mumuni urged Al Hussein and the five investigators to publicly express concerns about the “lack of clarity of the charges” under which each of the soldiers was sentenced to death.

The death sentences, Mumuni added in the petition, failed to meet the basic requirements of fair trials, noting that the UN rights experts should urgently request the Nigerian government and its military authorities to quash the capital punishment imposed on the 54 soldiers.

The SERAP petition partly read, “It is not right or fair to try everyone in mass proceedings, and that such unfair trial should not send someone to the gallows. Imposition of mass death sentences is in breach of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nigeria is a party. This Covenant limits the circumstances in which a state can impose the death sentence.

“Under international law, cases involving capital punishment such as the present one require the full and scrupulous respect of the guarantees of highest standards of fairness, due process and justice.

“Besides, the issues raised by the soldiers suggest lack of transparency, accountability and general deficiencies in the way the security budget and arms purchases are decided and controlled.”

The body expressed confidence in the ability of the UN rights experts to “individually and jointly” weigh it upon the Nigerian authorities to exercise their legal authority to “commute the death sentences” and pardon the 54 soldiers.

“You have consistently and jointly taken similar actions in the past, including with respect to Egypt, and we respectfully urge you to follow this path in this case and continue your record of working to end the death penalty in all countries,” SERAP urged the experts.