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Incident between 7 October 2012 and 9 October 2012 [+] Print this page

Location: JTF headquarters in Potiskum, Potiskum, Yobe [+]

Country: Nigeria [+]

Violation types: Torture [+]

Perpetrator classifications: Joint Task Force [+]

Location


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This incident took place in JTF headquarters in Potiskum, Potiskum, Yobe, Nigeria [+]

Description


According to Amnesty International: "Another victim of torture who told Amnesty International of his experiences at the hands of soldiers of the JTF during his detention was 33-year-old petty trader Musa: “I was arrested in October 2012 in Tandari ward, Potiskum in Yobe state. I was arrested along with over 180 people on that day (7 October 2012). Many of my colleagues died in detention after our arrest due to beating. When they arrested us, they took us to the JTF headquarters in Potiskum. There, we underwent all sorts of treatment. …The soldiers took all of us to a detention centre in Potiskum, the ‘rest house’. They have a big hole [in the ground] in the corner of this camp where they put people for long hours and even days. …they put about seven of us into the hole. We met about four other men in the hole as well. There were broken bottles inside the hole and we were put into the hole with only our trousers on. We were barefooted. I spent over three days in this hole. One of the other men in the hole had blood stain all over his body. I later learnt he had been there for three days. His hands were still tied behind his back but the skin was peeling off. I later learnt that the cable they tied him with had acid on which made his hand decay. While in the hole, they poured cold water on us and at other times they burn polythene and drop the hot melting polythene on our backs. After three days they took us to Damaturu ‘Guantanamo’ where they left us for three days without food or drink. In ‘Guantanamo’, one or two people die every one day, we undergo various types of torture in ‘Guantanamo’. The soldiers will walk on us with their boots. They will beat us in the morning and keep us in the cell all day. It was very hot in the cell. No ventilation. No space to move your legs. They gave us food only once in a day. One of the soldiers told us... that we were lucky to be alive as our fellow detainees from the area were ‘wasted’ [killed] in Potiskum.”" [+]

Sources

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Publication Date Publisher Publication Title Access Date Archive Link
18 September 2014 Amnesty International Welcome to hell fire’: Torture and other ill-treatment in Nigeria 27 September 2018