There is an indication that the Office of the United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary or Summary Executions, Mr. Christof Heyns will take “appropriate action including communication to the government of President Goodluck Jonathan over the imminent execution of 54 soldiers in Nigeria.”
The UN’s move followed a petition submitted to Heyns by Lagos based Rights group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in December 2014 in which the group asked five UN human rights independent experts to individually and jointly use their “good offices and positions to urgently request the Federal Government and its military authorities not to carry out the mass death sentences imposed on 54 Nigerian soldiers for what the government claimed was disobeying a direct order from their commanding officer.”The UN planned intervention was disclosed Sunday in a statement by SERAP Executive Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni.
According to Mumuni, “SERAP has been in discussion with Johel Dominique at the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary or Summary Executions both on the telephone and via email. Johel Dominique has confirmed that the Special Rapporteur is considering appropriate action to avert the imminent execution of 54 soldiers on death row in the country.
“We have also confirmed to the Special Rapporteur that SERAP has the consent of Mr. Femi Falana (SAN), the legal counsel to the 54 soldiers to file the petition.”
“SERAP welcomes the decision by Mr. Christof Heyns to intervene in the matter. Given his longstanding human rights commitment and achievements, we have absolutely no doubt that Heyns will work assiduously to ensure that justice is done in this matter and we wish him well as he strives to do that,” Mumuni stated.
“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,” SERAP said in a petition dated December 23, 2014 and addressed to five special rapporteurs.
The five special rapporteurs are: Christof Heyns, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions; Juan Méndez, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment; Pablo de Greiff, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence; Mads Andenas, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; and Ben Emmerson, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism.
According to SERAP, the courts-martial held in secret were “a mockery of justice” and ignored issues raised by the condemned men that “suggest lack of transparency, accountability and general deficiencies” in the handling of the security budget and arms purchases.
The petition copied to Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights also stated that, “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.”
“All human rights depend for their enjoyment the right to life, which is the most fundamental of all rights. The right to life symbolises everything that the United Nations (UN) works and stands for, be it in the area of peace and security, development or human rights. To reject the act of irreversibly taking someone’s life is to embrace belief in human progress and dignity,” SERAP also argued.
According to the organisation, “the imposition of mass death sentences is unjust and incompatible with fundamental human rights. The UN General Assembly to which Nigeria becomes has called for a worldwide moratorium on execution. In fact, the Special Rapporteurs have stated that the right to life is a fundamental right, not a toy to be played with.”
The organisation stated further that, “the UN has also acknowledged the discriminatory and arbitrary nature of judicial processes and the danger of the death penalty being used as a tool of repression. It has documented evidence to show that the death penalty is no deterrent,’’ stressing that “depriving a human person of his or her life is incompatible with the trend in the 21st century.”
Only the likes of Mohammadu Buhari as Commander-in-Chief and in deed only him in Nigeria of today will pen his approval to such execution just as he had done before even to civilians without recourse to robust judicial process. Be sure GEJ will not shed the blood of these gallant soldiers as long as he is and remains the C-in-C of Nigerian Armed Forces. Thank you SERAP for the follow up. But be sure you are asking for the obvious. Those gentlemen and women will not face any execution as long as GEJ is and remains our C-in-C. He and only him can authorize the execution. Buhari if elected come Febuary 2015 will blink an eye to order (not approve) the execution but not without tactical exoneration of every implicated soldier from the Housa-Fulani extraction. He has done it before and is even more determined this time if given the opportunity. A federal government under Buhari and Asiwaju is a certain mass burial for these soldiers. I rest my case.
If the UN can intervene for the lives of only 54 soldiers, why can’t the same UN intervene to save the lives of thousands people being killed by boko haram. We are watching.