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Incident between 22 January 2015 and 15 February 2016 [+] Print this page

Location: Onitsha North, Anambra [+]

Country: Nigeria [+]

Violation types: Torture [+]

Perpetrator classifications: Special Anti Robbery Squad [+]

Location


This incident took place in Onitsha North, Anambra, Nigeria [+]

Description


According to Amnesty International: "a 33-year-old petrol station attendant was arrested on 22 January 2015 by SARS officers in Onitsha, Anambra state, after his employer had accused him of being responsible for a burglary at their business premises two weeks earlier. He told Amnesty International: “The policemen took me to a hall. They brought a plain sheet and asked me to sign. When I signed it, they said to me ‘you have signed your death warrant’. “They took me to the back of the building and tied my hands to the back. They also connected the rope to my legs, leaving me hanging on a suspended iron rod. They put the iron rod in the middle between my hands and the leg with my head facing the ground. My body ceased to function. I went limp. The Investigative Police Officer (IPO) came at intervals and told me to tell him the truth. I lost consciousness. When I was about to die they took me down and poured water on me to revive me. People carried me back to the cell. I was detained for two weeks. “I was tortured two more times. I was detained in cell 3, where there were about 30 people. I was not given any medical attention despite the fact that I was close to death. I was not allowed access to a lawyer, a doctor or my family.” He was released on 15 February 2016 without charge after his lawyers filed a case in court urging that his rights be upheld No one has yet been held to account for the torture." [+]

Sources

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Publication Date Publisher Publication Title Access Date Archive Link
21 September 2016 Amnesty International "You Have Signed Your Death Warrant" : Torture And Other Ill Treatment In the Special Anti-Robbery Squad. AFR 44/4868/2016 27 September 2018