EU decries torture in Nigeria AS the world marks “World Day Against Death Penalty”, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), ASF France (Lawyers Without Borders France), the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Access to Justice and Hurilaws on Tuesday called on the Federal Government to review the death penalty regime in Nigeria. Meanwhile, the European Union (EU) has expressed concern over the alarming rate of torture in Nigeria in spite of concerted effort to address the trend. In a joint statement issued by the groups, they noted that “Nigeria is one of the countries where death penalty is still legally enforceable with over 800 inmates on death row across its prisons.” They also observed that “some of these inmates were sentenced to death for various offences by military tribunals during the military regime with no option or possibility of appeal.” According to them, “the denial of the right of appeal guaranteed by Section 241 of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to this category of inmates on death row erodes their fundamental right to fair hearing and is also a violation of their right to life.” He lamented that “the mandatory nature of the death penalty in Nigeria for capital offences leaves no room for the exercise of judicial discretion on the part of the judges in favour of the accused person.” Consequently, they called “for an urgent review of this rigid provision in the Nigerian law to enable sentences to be handed down on a case-by-case basis.” They urged the Nigerian government to make an official declaration on a moratorium on death penalty as a first step and subsequently to ratify the second optional protocol to the ICCPR aimed at the abolition of death penalty. “We also decry the spate of awaiting trial inmates in Nigerian prisons who often spend as much as 15 years or even more awaiting trial for alleged offences. We are of the view that this amounts to a flagrant violation of the rights of these inmates who are entitled to fair and speedy trial by a court of competent jurisdiction. The practice of keeping Nigerian citizens incarcerated for years under the guise of the unwholesome practise called ‘holding charge’ negates the very principles of fair hearing, which forms the pillars of every justice system”, they stated. It will be noted that Nigeria abstained from the last vote of the UN General Assembly Resolution on a Moratorium on the Use of the death penalty in 2010; another voting session on death penalty will come up in December 2012. The National Human Rights Commission, ASF France, the Nigerian Bar Association, Access to Justice and Hurilaws urge Nigeria to vote in favour of the moratorium. They said “death sentence does not serve as a deterrent to crime but rather has a note of finality and absoluteness giving no room for reversal in the event of an error, we hereby urge the Federal Government of Nigeria to follow the current global trend and review the death penalty in her laws.”