A US-based lawyer, Bruce Fein, representing the embattled Nigerian leader Nnamdi Kanu, wrote a heartfelt letter demanding both the governments of Kenya and Nigeria compensate him.
In the letter dated Friday, January 4, the lawyer also demanded that Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari release Kanu, who has been under state custody since July 2022, unconditionally.
He argued that the state violated human rights despite receiving a letter from the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention recommending his release.
"Nearly six months ago, on July 20, 2022, the United Nations Human Rights Council Working Group on Arbitrary Detention issued Opinion No. 25/2022.
"It unanimously concluded that your government is illegally detaining Nnamdi Kanu in violation of sixteen (16i) jus cogens international law prescriptions, i.e., they are binding on every nation as universal principles of justice," read the letter in part.
In the letter, Fein further noted that Kanu's detainees had denied him medical assistance and repeatedly denied him freedom.
"Taking into account the circumstances of the case, the appropriate remedy would be for the Government of Nigeria to release Mr Kanu immediately, and for both (Nigeria and Kenya) to accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations in accord with international law…The Working Group calls upon the Government of Nigeria to take urgent action to ensure the immediate, unconditional release of Mr Kanu.
"The Working Group requested a timely update of your government’s compliance with its decree, which has been scorned. Nothing has been done to comply with the Working Group’s urgent call for Mr. Kanu’s immediate unconditional release. He remains in solitary confinement in the custody of DSS," added the letter in part.
His lawyer also argued that, among other things, Mr. Kanu was denied necessary medical care for a possible life-threatening ailment.
"Every day since July 20, 2022, has been a new high-water mark of your government’s criminal detention of Mr. Kanu, compounding the crimes involved in his initial kidnapping, torture, and extraordinary rendition from Kenya," he claimed.
Kanu, who leads the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) movement in the West African nation, was deported from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and remains under the country's detention.
In an earlier suit filed against the Nigerian Government, Kanu alleged that he was held incommunicado and that the treatment was cruel but was eased after the people who had detained him discovered that he was not a terrorist.
He added that he was initially arrested on suspicion of being a Nigerian terrorist connected to Al Shabaab. His lawyer noted that while in Kenya, the leader was chained to the floor and tortured.
In November 2022, the US Government was roped into the case with activists urging President Joe Biden to break his silence over the leader's detention.
IPOB Media and Publicity Secretary, Emma Powerful, in a letter, argued that in history, the US played a major role in liberating other nations by challenging European colonial groups after World Wars 1 and 2.
