Amnesty International USA condemns disinformation in international print advertisements on Nigeria

Amnesty International press release, 12 December 1995

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Amnesty International USA (AIUSA) expressed outrage over the egregious inaccuracies in an advertisement placed in the New York Times and other international print media today, regarding the analysis of the Ogoni crisis in Nigeria. Amnesty International did not monitor the trial of the Ogoni Nine. The tribunal was not an open or just process. The organization has serious concerns that the evidence against the defendants was coerced through torture and other illegal means.

Mr. Orage's facts are wrong, they are misleading, and they only serve to complicate an already explosive situation in which justice has not been served to Mr. Orage and his family, the Ogoni Nine and the Nigerian people, said William F. Schulz, Executive Director, AIUSA. Similar ads are appearing in international newspapers and Mr. Orage should be public about his sources of funding as that may give some insight into his credibility.

Amnesty International sent a delegation to Nigeria in December 1994 but the trial was consistently delayed until February 1995. The delays ensured that the defendants were detained without charge or trial for eight months. The organization did receive reports on the trials from Nigerian human rights groups, other international human rights groups and a special observer, Michael Birnbaum QC. The civilians were tried in a closed military court which was found unfair by international standards.

Further evidence of the gross unfairness of the trial is evident in the government's systematic use of violence against both the defendants and the prosecution witnesses. Baribor Bera, who was executed and who had been brutally .tortured, was initially a prosecution witness. He was only charged with murder after refusing to give false evidence. Nordu Eawo also executed was arrested and taken to the home of a prosecution witness where he was tortured by other prosecution witnesses. Physical evidence of torture was produced at the trial. Two key prosecution witnesses have alleged that they themselves and additional prosecution witnesses were threatened and bribed to give false evidence.

Perhaps people seeking to get to the truth should be asking why the government had to torture the defendants and threaten witnesses if the case was so airtight, said Dr. Schulz.

The Ogoni trials are the latest example of successive military governments undermining the Nigerian judicial system. The use of military tribunals including the Special Disturbances Tribunal circumvents Nigeria's legal process and safeguards for international standards of due process. .These standards to which Nigeria is committed to include the African Charter for Human and Peoples Rights and the U.N. Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.