Press Freedom
Nigeria detained a publisher before the protest began
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found Omoyele Sowore's arrest violated protections for expression, assembly and a fair trial.
Omoyele Sowore was arrested on 3 August 2019, two days before demonstrations he had called under the name RevolutionNow. The publisher of Sahara Reporters was first held by Nigeria's Department of State Services and later faced charges including treasonable felony.
The important sequence is not the label placed on the protest but the conduct of the State. Courts ordered release. Security officials continued to hold him. After he was released in December, officers moved to take him back into custody at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
In Opinion No. 27/2020, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found the deprivation of liberty arbitrary on three grounds: insufficient legal basis, punishment for protected expression and assembly, and denial of fair-trial guarantees.[1] It called for release and compensation.[2]
Governments routinely describe a protest as a security question. Courts and journalists have to ask the prior question: what act, proved by what evidence, permits the State to take a person's liberty? In Sowore's case, the UN body found the answer did not satisfy the law.
Citations & source document
- [1]WGAD Opinion No. 27/2020 — findingDetention found arbitraryDetention found arbitrary under categories I, II and III.
- [2]WGAD Opinion No. 27/2020 — remedyRelease and compensation recommendedImmediate release and compensation recommended.
Every document cited above is held on this site, with the key clauses, extracts and findings set out in full and a link to the document of record.
Sources
Independent reporting by Pearce Robinson. Corrections and responses may be submitted here.
