29 children, 211 others allegedly die in Nigerian military detention, Amnesty International reveals

Friday, 24 February 2017

240 people, babies and children included, who were arbitrarily detained by the Nigerian military while they were fleeing from Boko Haram, have died in detention during the year 2016, Amnesty International alleges.
In it's 2016/2017 report, Amnesty International revealed that the security forces in Nigeria continually violate human rights and engage in extrajudicial executions and arrests in the process of trying to fight the terrorist group, Boko Haram.

According to the report, men, women and children were arrested as they fled towns captured by Boko Haram and were detained without access to their families or a lawyer and were not brought before a court either. While in detention, 240 of them died, of which there were 29 children and babies aged 0 to 5 years.

The report also made other allegations, some of them being that children and young girls were detained in overcrowded facilities without proper sanitary provisions, that the army participated in unlawful killings of over 100 pro-Biafra supporters, and that the army sexually exploited women in IDP camps in exchange for favours.

Meanwhile, Director, Defence Information, Brig. Gen. Rabe Abubakar, responded to the allegations by Amnesty International, saying it was fabricated. In a statement signed by Brig. Gen. Abubakar, he described the report as a continuation of Amnesty International's “series of spurious fabrications aimed at tarnishing the good image of the Nigerian military.”
See screenshots of part of the report by Amnesty International below...