Torture as a Tool of Extortion The UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment found in 2007 that “torture and ill-treatment are widely practised in police custody” and are “an intrinsic part of the functioning of the police in Nigeria.”[129]Numerous victims of extortion by the police described having been threatened with or subjected to torture as a means of extracting money from them.[130] Family members of other persons held in police custody described being coerced by police officers who threatened to torture or kill the person detained. The police in turn profit from their brutal reputation as fearful family members will pay large sums of money to free their loved one. The father of a 16-year-old boy in Anambra State told Human Rights Watch how the police tortured and threatened to kill his son unless he met their demands. The boy was arrested in Onitsha in 2006 and transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) office in the city of Awka. The father described what happened when he went to the SARS office to see his son: The police told me they had arrested my son in a robbery. I said I wanted to bail him. But they said it was not a bailable offense, but a criminal offense and that they will kill him. Then one of the policemen called me out and said he wanted to help me. He said I should bring ₦100,000 ($757) and he would release the boy. I said I didn’t have that much. When we went outside, I pleaded with him and we agreed on ₦50,000. They beat my son up too much. He had wounds on his back and on his body. My son told me they put a stick between his arms and legs and suspended him. If I didn’t pay they would’ve killed him. He is the only son I have. After I paid the money they released the boy to me. No bail bond, no statement, nothing. I had to borrow money from my friends. I am still paying it back.[131] A market trader in Anambra State told Human Rights Watch how he was arrested in September 2008 and tortured by the police in the SARS unit in the town of Akuzu: They brought me out around 7 [in the morning] and started tying a tube around my arms from my hand to my shoulder. After six hours they loosened it. They then tied my hands behind my back and put a cane through my arms, put two blocks on my back, and hung me for around two and a half hours. The police asked my family to pay ₦500,000 ($4,167). After the negotiations, my junior sister ended up paying ₦398,000 (approximately $3,317). After they paid this, they just released me. They never asked me anything else after that. Up to today I am receiving treatment for my hands at the hospital.[132] Nigeria has ratified a number of international treaties that prohibit torture, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;[133] the UN Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;[134] and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.[135] These also require Nigerian authorities to investigate and prosecute those who commit torture and compensate those who suffer it.[136] The Nigerian Constitution also provides that every individual is entitled to “respect for the dignity of his person,” including the right not to be subjected to torture.[137] Despite international and domestic law prohibiting the use of torture, the Nigerian police routinely use torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment, and are rarely held accountable for it.[138] Human Rights Watch found that corruption in the police force has both directly and indirectly contributed to the use of police torture in Nigeria.
Posted on: Fri, 22 Aug 2014 10:54:56 +0000
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