Pubdate: Tue, 16 Sep 2003
Source: This Day (Nigeria)
Copyright: 2003 This Day.
Contact:  http://www.thisdayonline.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/2870
Author: Agha Ibiam

TORTURE AS OBSOLETE TOOL IN CRIME PREVENTION

Lagos

As the world continues to fashion out better ways of treating
offenders using the UN Standard Minimum Rule (UNSMR), the Nigerian
Prison Service and Police Force say they are trying to adopt the new
standard.

Mr. Felix Obi, was arrested for drug trafficking at Murtala Mohammed
International Airport, Lagos on his way from Pakistan. He was tortured
to the point of death. Others in his shoes never lived to tell the
story, but he was lucky to survive it. "When I was arrested in Lagos,
the security personnel took me to a dark dungeon at the airport. From
the day of the arrest till the next day, I was given no food except
physical assault.

"After three days of interrogation, torment, blows and slaps, I was
then taken to Alagbon in Lagos. There, my torture became worst. The
Investigating Police Officer denied me visitors, slapped, kicked and
threatened to insert broom-stick into my private parts. Tossing cans
of tear gas into our cell was a common phenomenon", he told THISDAY
recently.

Obi spent one year at the Medium Security Prison, Kirikiri, Lagos. He
was later moved to Maximum Security Prison, where he again spent two
years. Within the space of three years, he served in about three
prisons. At Abeokuta, he spent ten years with a lot of experience to
share.

"Torture starts when one is on awaiting trial, which begins at the
prison gate. Having money on you attracts lots of flogging. You are
also stripped necked, while a warder deeps his finger into ones anus
as part of search for money. If anything is found, you will be forced
to excrete it," he narrated.

He further explained to THISDAY that he once stayed in a cell filled
with water for five days as well as being placed on a quarter of a
ration for five. Forced labour, he stressed was also part of the
torture he experienced while in prison cell. At times they were forced
to crawl on bare-knees on a gravel surface. Obi was discharged with a
deformed finger as a result of series of beaten he received.

Another victim, Mr. Felix Igbinosun, who is in his 50's also told
THISDAY his own pathetic story of how he was made useless as a result
of torture he got in prison. His case started in San Francisco, United
States of America. He went to a hospital to complain about an ailment.
In the process of diagnosing him of an initial ailment, he contracted
another disease.

This manifested when he relocated to New York. He was diagnosed by
medical experts at the New York Shelter where he was working that he
has Spitomoisis.

He further told his story: "When the city government noticed that I
had a paralysing disease, they wanted to suffocate me at night by
trying to insert some discomfort object into my nose. I thought I will
find solace by running to Nigeria Embassy in US, it rather turned out
to be the worst decision that culminated to my worsening condition.

"I ran to Nigeria embassy and told them my experience and the aging
disease that I have. I also told them that I have a return ticket back
to Nigeria, because I just visited home. I received no attention from
them, and my health condition was deteriorating. As a result of the
neglect, I attempted burning down the embassy because I felt I was no
longer useful to my life," he explained. As a result, Igbinosun was
arrested and taken to prison in New York. In the prison he was
seriously tortured despite the condition of his health.

Torture right from time past has been a channel of extracting
information from prisoners. It happens in every prison around. But
with the consistent advocacy over the years, such acts have been
frowned at. Regrettably torture has been elevated to barbarism in
developing countries.

For example, Igbinosun claimed that at a point in prison his food and
drinks were poisoned, which helped to paralyse him the more.

After years of jail term in US, Igbinosun was deported to Nigeria. He
committed another offense in one of his visits to US Embassy where he
had gone to demand for his rights. In an attempt to stop him, he
stabbed a security personnel. That act gave him another free ticket to
Ikoyi prisons. He spent ten years without trial.

His experience was not too different from what other inmates received
on serving their jail term either there or in another prison in Nigeria.

"We were beaten with brooms, and people were frequently getting blind.
Foods were served without salt. Thank God I regained my freedom in
April 2001 through the help of Gen. Ishaya Bamiyi who is currently
being detained in the same prison", Igbinosun explained.

Speaking to THISDAY recently in his office, Deputy Superintendent of
Police and Police Public Relations Officer, Lagos State, Mr. Emmanuel
Ighodalo condemned the use of torture in its totality as a means of
eliciting information from suspects or offenders.

He said such attitude was against the spirit and idea of the police in
Nigeria and all over the world. "We have the same ethics. It is a
practice we should desist from because in the process, somebody might
drop death, and that will be murder", he said.

The PPRO explained that the present day crop of police officers, do
not torture offenders. He said that the normal method of extracting
information from offenders should be descent.

But his position is a direct opposite of what obtains in Police
Stations across the country. In daily basis, police inflicts body harm
on suspects even before charging them to court. Ighodalo however
maintained that such an act, if reported to the police authority
attracts instance discipline against the officer involved. He stressed
that torture is a clear violation of human rights, a practice he said
the force is gradually phasing out especially in Lagos State.

"It goes against the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria,
against the African Charter as well as the United Nation Charter on
human rights. They are civilised ways of doing things now. The police
is preaching and even disassociating themselves from torture of any
kind. The Inspector General (IG) preaches against that," he said.

Ighodalo however disclosed that there will never be a total absence of
brutality against victims by security personnel. He argued that even
in the advanced countries, the police still engages in torturing victims.

"All over the world, the issue of police brutality is still going on.
But we are trying to see that the expected international standard for
the treatment of prisoners or suspects is adhered to. This is
democratic setting where the rule of law is practiced to the later,"
he added.

The issue of human rights violation, either in prisons or police
cells, has been a concern for some non-governmental organisations
(NGO's). For the past two years, the Prisoners Rehabilitation and
Welfare Action (PRAWA) has been throwing its weight and resources to
the training of warders on "Good Prison Practice and International
Human Rights Standards".

The training is to further strengthen the efforts and processes of
entrenching the study of human rights by using the United Nations
Standard Minimum Rule (UNSMR) for the treatment of offenders. The rule
has since been inculcated as part of the prison training institution's
curricula. Recently, using the UNSMR strategy, 14 prison officers were
drawn from Lagos prisons and trained as trainers on good prison
practice at Kirikiri Prisons, Lagos.

The Controller of Prisons, Lagos State Commands, Mr. Kess Momoh, told
THISDAY that inmates in this new era "are being treated in line with
the training they have been receiving in this courses organised by
PRAWA.

He further argued that the condition of Nigerian prisons today, is not
what it used to be. Pointing out that the attitude of officers to
inmates has changed considerably, he said the new relationship could
be likened to be that of a teacher and his students.

"We don't brutalise inmates any longer. Nobody has the right to beat
inmates. There is a cordial relationship between inmates and prison
personnel. We have imbibed humane method of treatment to inmates",
Momoh said.

In a recent commemoration of the United Nations International Day in
Support of Victims of Torture, held at the International School,
University of Lagos, the Executive Director of PRAWA, Dr. Uju Agomoh
emphasised that the psychological consequences of torture can last
forever. These, she said ranges from sleeping problems, nightmares,
fear, depression and feeling of guilt may hunt a person for the rest
of his life.

According to the Declaration on the protection of all persons from
being subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading
treatment or punishment, the United Nations General Assembly frowned
at torture as "any act by which severe pains or suffering, whether
physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted by or at the
instigation of a public official on a person for such purpose as
obtaining from him or third person information or confession."

It further declared that act of torture or other cruel, inhuman or
degrading treatment as an offense to human dignity and shall be
condemned as a denial of the purpose of the Charter of the UN and as a
violation of the human rights and fundamental freedoms proclaimed in
the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The paper stipulated that even in circumstances such as a state of war
or a threat of war, internal political or any other public emergency
may not be invoked as a justification of torture or other cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment.

But where such rights are infringed upon, or alleged to have subjected
to torture, shall have the right to complain and have his case
impartially examined by the competent authorities of the state
concerned. That was also Ighodalo's position on the matter against
offenders. 
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