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FILE - In this file picture dated Friday, April. 19, 2013 and provided
by Amnesty International, bodies of civilians detained by Military
LAGOS,
Nigeria (AP) — Shedding stark light on Nigeria's escalating war with Islamic
militants, mortuary records from a single Nigerian hospital show the number of
detainees who died in military custody more than tripled in June, the first
month of a state of emergency in the troubled northeast region.
Overall, the records obtained by The Associated Press
for the nine months from Oct. 5 to July 5 indicate that the military is killing
thousands in its crackdown on the uprising in northeast Nigeria.
The records cover just one hospital, Sani Abacha
Specialist Teaching Hospital in Maiduguri, the birthplace of Boko Haram, the
movement fighting to uproot Western cultural influences from a country shared
almost equally by Muslims and Christians. In the 30 days before the state of
emergency was declared on May 14, 380 bodies were delivered to the hospital by
the military. In the 30 days after, the number was 1,321.
For the whole of June, the number was 1,795, making it
the worst month in the records seen by the AP, which has also witnessed many of
the bodies being delivered to the hospital in military ambulances, escorted by
armored cars.
The figure is much larger than the estimated number of
Boko Haram fighters.
Nigerian government and military officials have refused
to comment, and it's impossible to know how many of the dead had Boko Haram
connections. But Nigerian law stipulates that even under a state of emergency,
detainees are supposed to be brought before a magistrate within 48 hours and to
have access to lawyers and family members.
A pastor said he was held at Maiduguri's Giwa Military
Barracks after he and four other people were arrested because weapons were
found hidden in the shoe factory where he works.
He described hundreds of naked people crammed into a
cell meant for a couple of dozen. Once a day, he said, a soldier would throw a
loaf of moistened bread into the cell to be brawled over. Some died of torture,
he said.
He told the AP he was freed with the intervention of a
Christian group, and his jailers' recognizing his prayers for salvation as
Christian. He requested anonymity fearing military retaliation.
Amnesty International reported this week that hundreds
are dying in detention: some taken from the cells and shot, some dying of
suffocation or starvation.
The London-based human rights group said "credible
information" from a senior Nigerian army officer indicated more than 950
people have been killed in the first six months of this year. The mortuary
records seen by the AP list 3,335 bodies in that period, in just one hospital.
That figure alone is about nine times greater than the
400 civilians killed in Boko Haram attacks in the same period, according to an
AP count of reported incidents.
However, Boko Haram has also done much to alienate
public opinion. Fighters suspected of belonging to it have gunned down dozens
of schoolchildren, some as they sat at their desks writing exams, and
burned alive boarding school students locked into dormitories that were set
ablaze.
The name Boko Haram roughly means "Western
education is forbidden."
The group has also killed many more Muslims than
Christians. In August, it gunned down 47 worshippers in a mosque. Last month it
captured a muezzin, made him issue the pre-dawn summons to prayer and then
killed at least seven elderly men who answered the call.
Local and international human rights groups say the
troops deployed to combat Boko Haram are notorious for their excesses and have
draconian powers to raid homes and detain people. They see a danger of a
backlash from a poor population that feels marginalized and remote from the
political center of Nigeria and its Christian president, Goodluck Jonathan.
The religions co-exist peacefully in the rest of Nigeria
although fundamentalism, fueled by poverty and marginalization, has been
growing among Christians and Muslims in the north.
Just days after the emergency was declared, U.S.
Secretary of State John Kerry noted "deep concern over credible
allegations of gross human rights violations by Nigerian security forces."
And in September, when he met Jonathan at the U.N., President Barack Obama
"underscored the importance of countering terrorism via a comprehensive
approach that creates economic opportunity and protects human rights,"
according to a State Department official.
On Thursday Nigeria was elected to a two-year seat on
the U.N. Security Council. According to presidential spokesman Reuben Abati,
President Jonathan believes it is "a glowing expression of support and
encouragement for Nigeria's active participation in the promotion of peace,
security and political stability in Africa and other parts of the world."
They started it first. I only pray that innocent people should not be involved in the military killing. Let them die so that they will embrace ten virgins in heaven. Boko haram are mad. The best solution is to divide this country so that we shall not have any contact with these people who do not value life. I hate them. Military, continue killing them but pls, don't kill innocent ones.
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