Sowore Arrest: SERAP Drags FG To UN Over Arbitrary Detention

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) on Tuesday sent a complaint to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention following the arrest and detention of RevolutionNow convener and publisher of Sahara Reporters, Omoyele Sowore, and four other activists for protesting on New Year Eve against bad governance.

AllNews had earlier reported that Omoyele Sowore alongside the four other activists were ordered to be reprimanded in Kuje Prison on Monday by a Magistrates’ Court in Wuse Zone 2, Abuja pending the consideration of their bail applications on Tuesday.

It could be recalled that Sowore and others were arrested for holding a protest against bad governance on New Year’s Eve in Abuja and subsequently taken to a police unit infamously known as ‘Abattoir’ in the Lokogoma area of the FCT.

Reacting to the detention of the activists, SERAP in a statement by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said the complaint was sent to the UN body on Monday, January 4.

The organization, therefore, demanded the release of the detained activists and a probe into their arrest and detention.

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The statement read in part, “The detention of Omoyele Sowore and four other activists constitutes an arbitrary deprivation of their liberty because it does not have any legal justification. The detention also does not meet minimum international standards of due process.

“The arrest continued detention and torture and ill-treatment of Sowore and four other activists solely for peacefully exercising their human rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly is a flagrant violation of the Nigerian Constitution, 1999 (as amended) and international human rights law. They are now facing bogus charges simply for exercising their human rights.

“We urge the Working Group to request the Nigerian government to investigate and hold accountable all police officers and security agents suspected to be responsible for the unlawful arrest, continued detention, and torture and other ill-treatment of Sowore and four other activists.”

The organization also wants the Federal Government to award Sowore and four other activists compensation “for the violations they suffered as a result of their unlawful arrest, arbitrary detention, torture, and other ill-treatment.”