OneWorld.net (U.S.)

UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 19 (OneWorld) – As UN member states voted overwhelmingly for a moratorium on the death penalty, an influential rights watchdog has challenged Nigeria's claim that no one has been executed in its prisons for several years.

During the past two years, at least seven people have been put to death in Nigeria's prisons, Amnesty International said this week in a statement claiming strong evidence of secret executions.

On Tuesday the 192-member UN General Assembly voted 104 to 54 for a resolution calling for a worldwide moratorium on capital punishment. The UN leadership, including the secretary general Ban Ki-moon, and international civil society welcomed the resolution. Twenty-five countries abstained.

"Today's step represents a bold step by the international community," said Ki-moon in a statement following the Assembly's action. "This is a further evidence of a trend towards ultimately abolishing the death penalty."

But Amnesty's investigation reveals that in Nigeria several people were convicted in a Kano state court, with death warrants signed by the current Kano state governor, Malam Ibrahim Shekarau.

The rights group said that two of the prisoners, Kenneth Ekhone and Auwalu Musa, were executed on May 30, 2006, after being convicted by a robbery and firearms tribunal.

"They did not have lawyers throughout the proceedings, nor were they given an opportunity to appeal against the judgments," Amnesty said in a statement. "Until his death, Auwalu Musa denied he had anything to do with the crime."

These executions, according to human rights experts, belie Nigeria's recent claims before the international community. Last month, a Nigerian government representative told delegates at a United Nations meeting on the death penalty that in Nigeria punishment only comes after exhaustive legal and judicial processes.

"It is thus on record that we have not carried out any capital punishment in recent years," he said.

Amnesty research shows that currently about 700 prisoners are on death row in Nigeria. More than 200 inmates have been on death row for over ten years, some for over 25 years and until now, it had been widely assumed that no executions had taken place since 2002.

Charging that the Nigerian government has "misled" the international community on its death penalty record, the group demanded an immediate moratorium on all executions.

"The Nigerian government must come clean on its record," Amnesty's researchers said in a statement, adding that they were determined to continue their investigations into death penalty cases that the Nigerian government might have hidden from the international community.

The new UN resolution calls on nations that impose death sentences to ensure that they meet internationally agreed minimum standards on safeguards for those facing execution, and to provide the UN Secretary-General with information about their use of capital punishment and observation of safeguards.

Moreover, it asks countries to progressively restrict the use of the death penalty, such as by reducing the number of offenses for which it may be imposed, and calls on those States that have abolished the practice to not reintroduce it. "This resolution is a major step towards ending this cruel and inhuman punishment and an important contribution to protecting human rights," said Amnesty's Yvonne Terlingen at the UN. "The death penalty is inhuman, inherently arbitrary and innocent people are invariably executed."

A total of 133 countries, from all regions of the world, have abolished the death penalty by law or practice, and only 25 carried out executions in 2006.

According to Amnesty, more than 90% of all known executions took place in six countries: China, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and the United States. Recorded executions worldwide fell by more than 25% in 2006, with a drop from at least 2,148 in 2005 to at least 1,591.

Although not legally binding, the UN moratorium on executions carries considerable moral and political weight. Observers say it is a reminder of member states' commitment to work towards abolition of the death penalty.

UN officials say Ki-moon will report to the General Assembly in October on whether or not member countries have implemented the resolution. .................................................................................... Like this article? Then please support our global efforts to bring you the news and views seldom heard in mainstream media. OneWorld.net is non-profit, non-commercial public media. Every little bit helps, so thank you! Click here to help. ....................................................................................