International
Over 15 Protesters Languish In Lagos Prison Three Years After #EndSARS – Amnesty
Amnesty International has said that a total of fifteen protesters arrested in 2020 are still being arbitrarily detained three years after the #EndSARS protest that took Nigeria by storm.
According to a statement by the international non-governmental organisation on the third anniversary of the protest, the majority of the protesters are in Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre and Ikoyi Medium Security Correctional Centre in Lagos without trial.
It noted that the Nigerian authorities have filed trumped-up charges including theft, arson, possession of unlawful firearms, and murder against many of the protesters, adding that some of those detained alleged that they had been subjected to torture.
“Our investigation shows the Nigerian authorities’ utter disdain for human rights. Three years in detention without trial is a travesty of justice. This shows the authorities’ contempt for due process of law. The protesters must be immediately and unconditionally released,” said Isa Sanusi Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
Seven #EndSARS protesters – Daniel Joy-Igbo, Sodiq Adigun, Sunday Okoro, Olumide Fatai, Oluwole Isa, Shehu Anas, and Akiniran Oyetakin – arrested in Lagos in 2020, are being arbitrarily held in Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre, Amnesty International said.
Daniel Joy-Igbo, a Beninois #EndSARS protester arrested in Lagos in October 2020, who has also been detained at the Bar Beach Police Station, the State Criminal Investigation Department in Panti, and at a SARS facility in Ikeja, told Amnesty International:
“Since my arraignment in December 2020, I have been locked up in the prison without trial. Since then, there has been no adjourned date for my case. I have not been taken to court since December 2020.”
Sodiq Adigun, also arrested in October 2020, who was previously detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department in Panti, told Amnesty International:
“Let the government release me. I have been detained since 2020 without trial. I am innocent. My life has been shattered. I need my liberty.”
Eight #EndSARS protesters – Segun Adeniyi, Onuorah Odih, Jeremiah Lucky, Gideon Ikwujomah, Irinyemi Olorunwanbe, Quadri Azeez, Olamide Lekan and Sadiq Riliwan – have been detained without trial in Ikoyi Medium Security Correctional Centre in Lagos since 2020.
“All those detained solely for taking part in peaceful #EndSARS protests must be released immediately and unconditionally,” said Isa Sanusi
Torture in detention
The Amnesty International report added that many peaceful #EndSARS protesters have been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment while in detention since 2020.
They include Oluwole Isa, currently held in Kirikiri Medium Correctional Centre, who told Amnesty International how he was tortured while in detention at the SARS facility in Ikeja:
“I was tied with a rope. They bent me backwards and tied my hands and legs together at my back. An iron rod was passed in between my tied legs and hands. With the iron road, I was suspended on an iron bar. Then, they started beating me with a machete and wooden batons. They were forcing me to admit that I was involved in vandalism during the #EndSARS protests. When I could not bear the torture anymore, I told the Inspector that I would confess. At that point, I was almost going to die. He brought me down; I still have the scar of the machete cut on my throat …”
Resurgence of police brutality
The report by Amnesty International also noted that despite consistent claims of carrying out comprehensive police reforms in the aftermath of #EndSARS protests, Nigeria’s police continue to routinely commit violations of human rights, including extrajudicial killings, harassment, arbitrary detention, and extortion with almost absolute impunity, said Amnesty International Nigeria.
The organisation said in the past year alone, it has documented the unlawful killing of at least six people by law enforcement officers.
These include 31-year-old Gafaru Buraimoh, who was killed in Lagos on 6 December 2022, and Onyeka Ibe, who was killed on 5 April 2023 in Delta state for refusing to pay a N100 bribe.
Other cases include Faiz Abdullahi, who died in police custody in Kaduna on 30 July 2023 following torture during interrogation, and 17-year-old student Abdullahi Tukur Abba, who died in hospital after allegedly being tortured in police custody in Yola Adamawa state on 5 August 2023.
“Any changes that followed the #EndSARS protests are fast disappearing, as police brutality is again becoming a daily part of life for people across Nigeria. The recent cases of extrajudicial killings and extortion show that the police are not ready to conduct their duties in compliance with international human rights standards. Reforming the Nigeria police force will continue to be a distant dream if impunity remains part of policing operations,” said Isa Sanusi Director of Amnesty International Nigeria.
Amnesty International in its release, admonished the Nigerian authorities to take concrete and effective measures to end police impunity, including by giving clear directives to the police not to violate human rights, adding that those suspected of violating human rights should be brought to justice in fair trials and without recourse to the death penalty.
It called for genuine reforms to be initiated to end widespread human rights violations by the police, as Nigerians have an obligation to ensure that torture and other ill-treatment are not carried out under any circumstances.
Background
On 8 October 2020, Nigerians took to the streets protesting atrocities by the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) which was a unit of the Nigeria Police established to fight violent crimes.
While number of casualties of the #EndSARS protest has always been contentious, a leaked memo by the Lagos State government earlier in the year revealed the approval of N61,285,000 for the mass burial of 103 persons identified as 2020 EndSARS victims.
According to Amnesty International, at least 12 peaceful protesters were killed in Alausa and Lekki Lagos by security operatives 20 October 2020. It added that at least 56 people have died across the country during the protests.
It said victims include protesters and thugs who were allegedly hired by the authorities to confront the protesters. In many cases, law enforcement and security forces used excessive force in an attempt to control or stop the protests.
However, in its explanation to its leaked memo dated July 19, 2023, the Lagos government maintained that the victims to be buried were not from the controversial Lekki Tollgate shooting.
The government argued that the victims were from incidents of violence that occurred in the aftermath of the EndSARS protests.
Crime
Indonesia to Repatriate British Grandmother on Death Row, Says Official
Indonesia will sign an agreement on Tuesday to repatriate two British nationals convicted of drug-related crimes, including Lindsay Sandiford, a grandmother sentenced to death, according to a senior Indonesian government source.
“The practical arrangement will be signed today. The transfer will be done immediately after the technical side is agreed,” the official told AFP, naming Sandiford and Shahab Shahabadi, 35, as the individuals to be returned to the UK.
Sandiford was sentenced to death in 2013 after she was caught smuggling cocaine worth over $2.1 million into Bali from Thailand. The drugs were discovered concealed in a false bottom of her suitcase. Shahabadi, arrested in 2014, is currently serving a life sentence for separate drug offences.
Although the Indonesian source listed Sandiford’s age as 68, public records indicate she is 69.
A joint press conference with Indonesian officials and the British ambassador to Indonesia was scheduled for later Tuesday, according to the Coordinating Ministry for Legal, Human Rights, Immigration and Correctional Affairs.
Tabloid Attention and Personal Testimony
Sandiford’s case received widespread attention in the UK after she admitted to the offences but claimed she was coerced by a drug syndicate that threatened to kill her son. In a 2015 article published in The Mail on Sunday, Sandiford wrote from prison about her fear of imminent execution:
“My execution is imminent, and I know I might die at any time now. I could be taken tomorrow from my cell. I have started to write goodbye letters to members of my family.”
Originally from Redcar, in northeast England, she also wrote that she planned to sing the Perry Como hit “Magic Moments” before facing the firing squad.
During her time in prison, Sandiford reportedly became close friends with Andrew Chan, one of the “Bali Nine” Australian drug smugglers who was executed in 2015.
Policy Shift on Repatriation
The planned transfer follows recent moves by the Prabowo Subianto administration to repatriate foreign nationals serving harsh sentences for drug crimes. In December 2024, Mary Jane Veloso, a Filipina who spent nearly 15 years on death row, was allowed to return home. In February 2025, Serge Atlaoui, a French national, was repatriated after 18 years on death row.
Indonesia, known for having some of the world’s strictest drug laws, last carried out executions in 2016, when three Nigerian citizens and an Indonesian were executed by firing squad. As of early November 2025, more than 90 foreign nationals remain on death row in the country, all for drug-related offences.
The British Embassy in Jakarta declined to comment, directing inquiries to the Indonesian government.
Indonesian authorities have recently signalled the potential resumption of executions, after nearly a decade-long de facto moratorium.
International
Protest in US over Trump’s policies
Organisers said seven million people marched in protests spanning New York to Los Angeles, with demonstrations popping up in small cities across the US heartland and even near Trump’s home in Florida.
(AFP): Huge crowds took to the streets in all 50 US states at “No Kings” protests over the weekend, venting anger over President Donald Trump’s hardline policies, while Republicans ridiculed them as “Hate America” rallies.
Organisers said seven million people marched in protests spanning New York to Los Angeles, with demonstrations popping up in small cities across the US heartland and even near Trump’s home in Florida.
“This is what democracy looks like!” chanted thousands in Washington near the US Capitol, where the federal government was shut down for a third week because of a legislative deadlock.
Colourful signs called on people to “protect democracy,” while others demanded the country abolish the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency at the centre of Trump’s anti-immigrant crackdown.
Demonstrators slammed what they called the Republican billionaire’s strong-arm tactics, including attacks on the media, political opponents and undocumented immigrants.
“I never thought I would live to see the death of my country as a democracy,” 69-year-old retiree Colleen Hoffman told AFP as she marched down Broadway in New York.
International
Thieves steal French crown jewels
They included the emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie Louise, and the diadem of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.
•A tiara worn by the Empress Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III was stolen
Thieves wielding power tools raided the Louvre in broad daylight Sunday, taking just seven minutes to grab some of France’s priceless crown jewels, but dropping a gem-encrusted crown as they fled, officials and sources said.
Authorities recovered the 19th-century crown — damaged — near the museum.
The spectacular heist, one of several to target French museums in recent months, forced the closure of the Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and home to the Mona Lisa.
Police are looking for a team of four thieves, Paris’s chief prosecutor Laure Beccuau, told the BFMTV channel.
Soldiers patrolled the famed glass pyramid entrance, while evacuated visitors, tourists and passersby were kept at a distance behind police tape.
It was “like a Hollywood movie”, one American tourist, Talia Ocampo, told AFP.
It was “crazy” and “something we won’t forget — we could not go to the Louvre because there was a robbery”, she said.
A culture ministry statement said eight items of jewellery had been stolen from the Gallerie Apollon which houses the French crown jewels.
“Two high-security display cases were targeted, and eight objects of invaluable cultural heritage were stolen,” said the ministry statement.
They included the emerald-and-diamond necklace that Napoleon gave his wife Empress Marie Louise, and the diadem of Empress Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III.
Beccuau said the thieves threatened museum guards with the angle grinders they used to break into the jewellery cases. She said a team of 60 investigators were assigned to the crime.
– ‘Unsellable’ –
The robbers used a powered, extendable ladder of the sort used to hoist furniture into buildings to get into a gilded gallery housing the crown jewels, sources and officials said.
The 19th-century crown of Empress Eugenie, was found broken near the museum afterwards, a source following the robbery said, asking to remain anonymous because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
The crown, featuring golden eagles, is covered in 1,354 diamonds and 56 emeralds, according to the museum’s website.
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