Nigeria: Police officers face dismissal and prosecution for torture
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A number of police officers in Nigeria are facing dismissal and prosecution for illegal detentions and torture.
A panel set up by Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission has recommended the dismissal and prosecution of the police officers for torture, extra-judicial killings and illegal detentions.
The committee, set up in the wake of mass street protests against police brutality in 2020, has not said how many officers it wants to be dismissed or prosecuted.
The commission is expected to make that public at a later date.
The panel headed by a senior judge, Sulaiman Galadima, has also ordered the payment of compensation to victims of police brutality.
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Earlier this month, dozens of victims or their families had received similar compensations totalling about $700,000 (£649,000) – the first such payments since the national panel was set up.
End SARS protests
The protests which took place nearly two years ago under the hashtag #EndSars were against a notorious police unit known as the Special Anti-Robbery Squad or Sars.
On October 4 2020, a video went viral showing SARS officers dragging two men from a hotel and shooting one of them outside.
A few days later, protests erupted across Nigeria.The Nigerian army violently repressed the peaceful protest at the Lekki toll gate, shooting at the protesters and killing at least 12 people.
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They forced the authorities to disband the unit – created to fight violent crime including armed robberies and kidnappings.
Source: Africafeeds.com
