Security forces fail to respect human rights

Attempts by security forces to stem the rise in crime and inter-communal conflicts had resulted in the deaths of thousands of people, Amnesty International said on Thursday in a new report on Nigeria entitled "Security forces in Nigeria: Serving to protect and respect human rights?" On many occasions, it said, the violence appeared to have been unleashed with government complacency and even outright complicity. "The federal police and the armed forces are responsible for numerous human rights violations on a regular basis in their policing activities, ranging from extrajudicial executions to death in custody, torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of suspects," Amnesty said. In many instances, torture in police cells results in death, it pointed out, adding that the police usually attribute such deaths in custody to alleged attempts to escape. "Victims are labelled as armed robbers to deny them any form of popular sympathy and to justify inaction by superiors within the police who only rarely attempt to investigate these cases," it noted. Extra-judicial executions of criminal suspects not in custody are often linked to operations by special task forces assigned to patrol streets and highways to control armed robbery, the report said. It noted however that they also occurred during violence or illegal activities by some members of the police force, including illegal checkpoints set up to extort bribes from citizens. Amid general concern over crime, the report stated, serious flaws in the legal system had permitted the police to routinely label citizens as "suspects of armed robbery or murder" without any substantial evidence, resulting in extremely lengthy periods-in most cases years- of detention without charge or trial. "The poor performance of the Nigerian police in effectively tackling crime, constant allegations of human rights violation during law enforcement activities and the sense of mistrust which they inspire among Nigerians, have also facilitated the creation of armed vigilante groups at local and state level, which routinely carry out summary executions, unlawful detention and inflict torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment on suspected criminals," Amnesty added. The full report