Responding to the Federal government’s dropping of treason charges against human rights defender Omoyele Sowore, Isa Sanusi Director of Amnesty International Nigeria said:
“Amnesty International today welcomes the withdrawal by the Nigerian authorities of bogus treason charges against activist Omoyele Sowore and urges the authorities to immediately drop all other fabricated charges against him.”
“Omoyele Sowore should never have been charged in the first place. Nigerian authorities must immediately drop the unfounded cybercrime and unlawful assembly charges against him filed by the police.
“Authorities must allow Sowore and other activists and journalists to freely carry out their activities without any harassment, intimidation, and fear of reprisals.
“The unfair prosecution of Sowore is part of restriction of civic space and escalating crackdown on human rights in Nigeria.”
“The Nigerian authorities must respect, protect, promote, and fulfill the human rights of everyone in the country including the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, and media freedom.”
Background:
Amnesty International had in 2019 declared Omoyele Sowore and Olawale Bakare prisoners of conscience, as they have faced arbitrary detention and unfair trials solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression. Omoyele Sowore was arrested by Nigeria’s intelligence agency DSS on 3 August 2019 for calling for protests on socio-economic condition of the people.