Rights group says government condoning impunity

The international rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW)on Tuesday accused the Nigerian government of condoning the killing of innocent civilians by the security forces during religious riots in the northern city of Kaduna last November. More than 200 people died in three days of violence between Christians and Muslims sparked by a newspaper comment dismissing Muslim objections to the hosting of the 2002 Miss World beauty contest in Nigeria. The event was shifted to London at the last minute. In its 32-page report titled “The ‘Miss World riots’: continued impunity for killings in Kaduna”, Human Rights Watch alleges that many of the casualties of the violence were victims of cold-blooded murder by police and troops. It said that in one instance eye witnesses saw members of the security forces pick up eight men who were taken to a rubbish dump and shot dead. There were other cases where people, including children, were shot in their homes. "The Nigerian government has not brought anyone to justice for these terrible killings," said Peter Takirambudde, Executive Director of the Africa Division of Human Rights Watch. "This lack of response raises serious questions about the government's commitment to protecting the lives of ordinary Nigerians," he added. The report said for unknown reasons the security forces did not intervene immediately when the violence erupted. But when eventually they were deployed, policemen and soldiers contributed to the high death toll by indiscriminately shooting at people who did not pose any obvious threats to them or other people. Human Rights Watch said in some cases the perpetrators of these excesses were identified and arrested, but they were subsequently released. Some of the suspects were transferred to new postings, while witnesses to their crimes were threatened by the police and told to keep quiet. None of the Christian and Muslim belligerents, who formed well-organised mobs that killed people and destroyed property, were prosecuted despite the initial arrest of more than 300 people, it added. Human Rights Watch linked the November 2002 violence to clashes between Muslims and Christians in the same city two years earlier over moves by the state government to introduce Islamic Shari’ah law. More than 2,000 people were killed in the 2000 riots. The rights group urged the Nigerian government to prosecute those behind the killings in Kaduna in 2002 and prevent further extra-judicial killings by the security forces. For HRW's full report