{"id":24813,"date":"2018-07-03T22:38:19","date_gmt":"2018-07-03T21:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/?p=24813"},"modified":"2018-07-04T08:01:38","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T07:01:38","slug":"ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/","title":{"rendered":"ECOWAS Court Frees 2 On Death Row After 29 Years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Respite came the way of two Nigerians after 29 years in prison when the Centre for Peace and Conflict Management in Africa (CPCMA) on 29th<\/sup> June obtained a favourable judgment against Nigeria in the case against the applicants.<\/p>\n

The duo, Gabriel Inyang and Linus Iyeme were convicted and sentenced to death by the Armed Robbery and Firearms Tribunal in 1995 and were waiting on the death row at the Enugu prisons.<\/p>\n

The Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in its judgment ordered the immediate release of the applicants from detention.
\nThe judgment was reached by the court after hearing the complainant\u2019s application, alleging violations to the right to life, right to human dignity, due process of law, to access to justice and judicial independence, to fair hearing and effective remedy as contained in the African Charter on Peoples\u2019 and Human Rights and the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.<\/p>\n

The application was supported by an affidavit deposed to by one Mr. Jude Arthur Angel, a friend of the applicants, who deposed to the facts that the applicants were denied the right to Appeal the decision
\nof the Tribunal at that time and that further attempts to appeal have been frustrated by the sheer level of bureaucracy and uncooperative Military authorities encountered in the attempt to obtain Certified True Copies of the records of proceedings of the Tribunal.<\/p>\n

The Applicants also alleged that they have been subjected to inhumane and degrading treatment while on death row resulting in the partial paralysis of the two.<\/p>\n

The Nigerian Government in its defence asserted that the court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the matter since the Applicants have not exhausted their right to appeal. They also contended that a cause of action has not arisen, citing the case of Adekeya v. F.H.A.<\/p>

\r\n
Advertisement<\/div>\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\r\n \r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n

They urged the court to dismiss the action for lack of merit. The court in its judgment, assumed jurisdiction and ruled that a cause of action was established in the applicants\u2019 case. The court also found the Defendants to be in breach of Article 7 of the African Charter on Peoples\u2019 and Human Rights for their
\nrefusal to allow an appeal.<\/p>\n

The court also noted that Article 5 of the African Charter on Peoples\u2019 and Human Rights provided for the right of every person to the respect of the dignity inherent in a human being and freedom from all forms of exploitation and degradation of man. The court cited the case of MSS v Belgium and Greece.<\/p>\n

While ordering the immediate release of the applicants from detention, the court condemned the actions of the Nigerian government and enjoined them to always respect the contents of the African Charter on Peoples\u2019 and Human Rights and other international covenants of which they are signatory.<\/p>\n

Lead counsel for the Applicants, Noah Ajare Esq, an international human rights lawyer and expert in human rights litigation said further, \u201cThis landmark judgment of the ECOWAS Court is undoubtedly a welcome development not just for the applicants but also a ray of hope for hundreds and thousands tried, convicted or sentenced to death by the Military Tribunal being held under dehumanising conditions in several prisons across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ajare added continued that, \u201cWith this decision, the court has effectively declared that all trials under the Armed Robbery and Firearms Decree is in gross violation of the African Charter on Peoples\u2019 and Human Right and thus gives other convicts a lease of life. I therefore commend the courage and resilience of the judges.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Respite came the way of two Nigerians after 29 years in prison when the Centre for Peace and Conflict Management in Africa (CPCMA) on 29th June obtained a favourable judgment against Nigeria in the case against the applicants. The duo, Gabriel Inyang and Linus Iyeme were convicted and sentenced to death by the Armed Robbery …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":24814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[4252,3447,4253],"coauthors":[2393],"class_list":["post-24813","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news","tag-death-row","tag-ecowas-court","tag-enugu-prison"],"yoast_head":"\nECOWAS Court Frees 2 On Death Row After 29 Years - National Wire<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Respite came the way of two Nigerians after 29 years in prison when the Centre for Peace and Conflict Management in Africa (CPCMA) on 29th June obtained a favourable judgment against Nigeria in the case against the applicants.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ECOWAS Court Frees 2 On Death Row After 29 Years - National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Respite came the way of two Nigerians after 29 years in prison when the Centre for Peace and Conflict Management in Africa (CPCMA) on 29th June obtained a favourable judgment against Nigeria in the case against the applicants.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"National Wire\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-03T21:38:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-07-04T07:01:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ecowas.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"306\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"165\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dayo Emmanuel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/\",\"name\":\"National Wire\",\"description\":\"About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ecowas.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ecowas.jpg\",\"width\":306,\"height\":165,\"caption\":\"ECOWAS Court\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/\",\"name\":\"ECOWAS Court Frees 2 On Death Row After 29 Years - National Wire\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-03T21:38:19+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-07-04T07:01:38+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/806673c5851717dc3067b1a46a6c060f\"},\"description\":\"Respite came the way of two Nigerians after 29 years in prison when the Centre for Peace and Conflict Management in Africa (CPCMA) on 29th June obtained a favourable judgment against Nigeria in the case against the applicants.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ECOWAS Court Frees 2 On Death Row After 29 Years\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/806673c5851717dc3067b1a46a6c060f\",\"name\":\"Dayo Emmanuel\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/author\/dayo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ECOWAS Court Frees 2 On Death Row After 29 Years - National Wire","description":"Respite came the way of two Nigerians after 29 years in prison when the Centre for Peace and Conflict Management in Africa (CPCMA) on 29th June obtained a favourable judgment against Nigeria in the case against the applicants.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"ECOWAS Court Frees 2 On Death Row After 29 Years - National Wire","og_description":"Respite came the way of two Nigerians after 29 years in prison when the Centre for Peace and Conflict Management in Africa (CPCMA) on 29th June obtained a favourable judgment against Nigeria in the case against the applicants.","og_url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/","og_site_name":"National Wire","article_published_time":"2018-07-03T21:38:19+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-07-04T07:01:38+00:00","og_image":[{"width":306,"height":165,"url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ecowas.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Dayo Emmanuel","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/","name":"National Wire","description":"About Nigerians, Nigerian Business and Other Stories","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ecowas.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Ecowas.jpg","width":306,"height":165,"caption":"ECOWAS Court"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#webpage","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/","name":"ECOWAS Court Frees 2 On Death Row After 29 Years - National Wire","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2018-07-03T21:38:19+00:00","dateModified":"2018-07-04T07:01:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/806673c5851717dc3067b1a46a6c060f"},"description":"Respite came the way of two Nigerians after 29 years in prison when the Centre for Peace and Conflict Management in Africa (CPCMA) on 29th June obtained a favourable judgment against Nigeria in the case against the applicants.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/ecowas-court-frees-2-on-death-row-after-29-years\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ECOWAS Court Frees 2 On Death Row After 29 Years"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/#\/schema\/person\/806673c5851717dc3067b1a46a6c060f","name":"Dayo Emmanuel","url":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/author\/dayo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24813"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24813\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24818,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24813\/revisions\/24818"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24813"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nationalwire.com.ng\/sub\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=24813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}