Nigeria
has freed another 475 Boko Haram suspects following a series of mass trials in
which most cases were dropped for lack of evidence, the justice ministry said
Sunday.
Over the
course of the week, hundreds of suspected Boko Haram extremists have appeared
before a court at the Kainji military base in central Niger state.
The
release order was issued on Friday, with the 475 suspects to be returned to
their home states for “proper rehabilitation” before being sent back to their
families, ministry spokesman Salihu Othman Isah said.
He said they
had been arrested on grounds they either belonged to Boko Haram, or had
concealed information about the group’s plans or its members’ whereabouts.
“However, the Prosecution Counsel
could not charge them with any offence due to lack of sufficient evidence
against them. Therefore, the suspects were released.”
Among those released was a young
girl with a three-month-old baby from Borno State who was taken to a Boko Haram
enclave by her brother and married off to his friend when she was 11. She was
arrested in 2014 while trying to escape.
Also freed were two mechanics,
identical twins who were arrested in Bauchi State in 2010 after servicing a
vehicle at their workshop which belonged to a Boko Haram member.
Also Friday, the court imposed a
second 15-year sentence on Haruna Yahaya, 35, who was involved in the 2014
kidnapping of more than 200 schoolgirls from Chibok.
Earlier in the week, he had been
jailed for 15 years but the court handed him an additional 15-year term, with
the judge saying the two sentences would run consecutively.
Years
without trial
In total, some 1,669 people have
been processed in a string of mass hearings which began in October at four
specially-constituted civilian courts inside the facility.
Most were men, but their number also
included some women and children, with Nigeria widely criticised for holding
them and thousands of others for years without trial or even contact with a
lawyer.
Before Friday’s release of 475
suspects, 468 had been freed after it was found they had no case to answer; 45
were jailed for between two and 15 years and 28 had their cases transferred to
other jurisdictions.
A further 82 pleaded guilty in
exchange for a lesser sentence or release, taking into account time served in
custody. And others were freed after spending years behind bars.
The remaining cases have been
delayed for another hearing.
Boko Haram’s bloody quest since 2009
to establish a hard-line Islamic state in remote northeast Nigeria has left at
least 20,000 dead and forced more than 2.6 million others out of their homes.
The violence
has also spilt over into neighboring Cameroon, Chad and Niger.
Check our new Website more updates http://insidearewa.com.ng/
No comments:
Post a Comment