Abuya. The president of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, ordered this Monday the immediate release of 29 children who faced the possibility of being sentenced to the death penalty after being accused of participating in protests against the worst cost of living crisis in a generation in the country.
Under increasing pressure from activists, Tinubu also ordered an investigation into the police officers involved in the detention and prosecution of the minors, Nigerian Information Minister Mohammed Idris told reporters in the capital, Abuja. They are not expected to be released until Tuesday by court order.
The children, detained since August, were among more than 70 people charged Friday with treason, destruction of property and rioting following the August protests that shook the country and culminated in the deaths of some protesters at the hands of security officers, and the arrest of hundreds more.
Aged between 14 and 17, four of the minors fainted from exhaustion when they were brought to court last week. Most of the others seemed malnourished and disoriented as they crowded together on the bench, and others sat on the floor.
There had been no news of his arrest until his appearance, which sparked outrage and renewed concern about the deterioration of human rights in Africa’s most populous country.
A local court imposed strict conditions and granted the children bail of 10 million naira ($5,900) each, an amount that none of them could pay.
It is not yet clear whether children participated in protests by Nigerians over worsening hardships caused by the government’s economic policies aimed at cutting costs and stabilizing the ailing economy.
They were illegally detained and subjected to “horrific experiences,” according to the Nigeria office of Amnesty International, one of several human rights groups that demanded the children’s release.
The detention of the children “highlights significant flaws in our criminal justice system, particularly the child justice system, indicating systemic problems that fail to protect the rights of minors,” said Funke Adeoye, founder of Hope Behind Bars Africa, an organization nonprofit that has been fighting for his release.
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