Torture Officers at Police Stations, Nazi Germany? Yes and Nigeria too
The young Nigerian man shown above is growing up during a grim time in his nation’s history: One in which the use of torture is so routine in police work that many stations are keeping informal “torture officers” on staff to handle aggressive interrogations.
A gruesome report from Amnesty International exposes the scope of the problem, showing that both the military and police use torture routinely in interrogations against everyone from suspected militants to supposed thieves — and sometimes, even victims of crimes are subjected to horrific tactics. Amnesty claims to have collected the data over the course of the last ten years, illustrating how sustained the issue is, and the human rights organization is calling for immediate action to stop the torture and murder of Nigerian men, women and children.
Spokespeople for the Nigerian police see the issue differently. Emmanuel Ojukwu, a police spokesman, told the BBC that while torture “may happen,” it’s “appropriately dealt with,” and that anyone wishing to file complaints should contact supervisors at police stations and higher up in regional police authorities, if necessary. His comments fly in the face of the massive amount of evidence collected by Amnesty, which includes testimonials from people of all ages not just about graphic torture, but about how routine and unremarkable the process was — many police stations, for example, had chambers specifically set up for torture, as well as officers tasked to perform it. Victims reported rape, electrocution, water torture, beatings and other abuses at the hands of Nigerian law enforcement.
Amnesty’s press release notes that: “The report also reveals how most of those detained are held incommunicado – denied access to the outside world, including lawyers, families and courts…Torture has become such an integral part of policing in Nigeria that many police stations have an informal ‘Officer in Charge of Torture’ or O/C Torture. They use an alarming array of techniques, including nail or tooth extractions, choking, electric shocks and sexual violence.”
This does not speak well of Nigeria’s law enforcement system — violating human rights is in and of itself a terrible abuse that needs to be rectified, but it also means that police are not properly investigating crimes and that the outcomes of any police investigations, trials and subsequent convictions or acquittals are also suspect. That leads to widespread trust and reliability problems with the entire police force and justice system — even when a department respects the human rights of suspects, the actions of abusive departments cancel out its efforts to solve cases within the boundaries of the law. When a nation’s criminal justice system is compromised, it can increase the risk of corruption as well as larger risks for residents, including an increased risk of violent crime.
Shockingly, torture isn’t even illegal in Nigeria. If it’s not a big issue, as police officials claim, surely a formal ban with clearly-outlined penalties for being involved in torture shouldn’t present a hardship or a concern for police departments. After all, if they’re not torturing anyone, surely a law about it won’t affect them…right?
s.e. smithhttp://www.care2.com
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