UN to plead for 54 convicted soldiers

The United Nations has said it will take appropriate
action over the execution of 54 soldiers sentenced
to death by the Nigerian Army on December 17.
The UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial
Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Christof Heyns,
in a letter to The Socio-Economic Rights and
Accountability Project, said, “Appropriate action,
including communication to the government of
President Goodluck Jonathan, is being considered
regarding the imminent execution of 54 soldiers in
Nigeria.”
A General Court-Martial set up by the Army
authorities had sentenced the 54 soldiers to death
by firing squad for alleged offences of mutiny and
conspiracy.
SERAP, in a petition dated December 23 and
addressed to a group of five UN special human
rights rapporteurs and the UN High Commissioner
for Human Rights, Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein,
described the mass death sentences on the
soldiers as “unjust and incompatible with
fundamental human rights.”
The rights group had urged the rapporteurs to use
their good offices and positions to prevail on the
Federal Government and the Army authorities not
to carry out the mass death sentences imposed on
the 54 soldiers.
In a statement by the Executive Director of SERAP,
Adetokunbo Mumuni, on Sunday, SERAP expressed
satisfaction over the decision of the UN to
intervene in the execution of the soldiers.
“Given his longstanding human rights commitment
and achievements, we have absolutely no doubt
that Mr. Heyns will work assiduously to ensure
that justice is done in this matter and we wish him
well as he strives to do that,” Mumuni stated.
SERAP said, “The General Court-Martial, held in
secret, was a mockery of justice and ignored
issues raised by the condemned men that suggest
lack of transparency, accountability and general
deficiencies in the handling of the security budget
and arms purchases.”
The statement read, “The UN has also
acknowledged the discriminatory and arbitrary
nature of judicial processes and the danger of the
death penalty being used as a tool of repression. It
has documented evidence to show that the death
penalty is no deterrent, stressing that ‘depriving a
human person of his or her life is incompatible
with the trend in the 21st Century.”