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Sowore to sue Nigeria police for torture – Falana

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femi Falana

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Femi Falana, said on Saturday he has received instructions from the Convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Omoyele Sowore, to sue the Nigeria Police Force for torture.

Falana, who disclosed this in a statement, said his client was maltreated, tortured, and subjected to dehumanising conditions in contravention of the Anti-Torture Act.

Sowore was arrested on New Year eve for leading a protest against the Federal Government in Abuja.

The lawyer said: “Since Mr. Sowore’s fundamental right to dignity has been recklessly violated by the police we have his instructions to press for charges against all the officers who subjected him to physical and mental torture in contravention of the letter and spirit of the provisions of the Anti Torture Act of 2017.”

He said the force is waiting for “orders from above” before releasing the activist.

Falana added that the police was holding his client for alleged breach of COVID-19 protocols but had denied him bail for two consecutive days.

READ ALSO: Sowore, others, arrested in Abuja for protesting on December 31

He added: “Mr. Sowore who was covering an event at the time of his arrest has maintained that he did not breach any of the COVID-19 regulations.

“He had been badly beaten and locked up in a detention facility along with armed robbery suspects.

“The police officers who arrested Mr. Omoyele Sowore at Abuja on December 31, 2020, subjected him to severe beating and left him with bruises all over his body. As if that was not enough he has been locked up in the midst of armed robbery suspects at a notorious detention facility called abattoir maintained by the disbanded Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) in Abuja.

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