Nigeria’s
military has confirmed that it was to release 167 people who were detained as
part of counter-insurgency operations against Boko Haram militants in three
northeast states.
Defence
spokesman Chris Olukolade said the suspects were to be freed after a directive
from the presidency following their recommendation for release in December last
year.
A total of
157 people would be released from military facilities in Borno, nine from Yobe
and one from Adamawa, he added. All three states have been subject to emergency
rule since May last year.
“The
suspects will be released to their respective state governments,” Olukolade
said in an emailed statement, without indicating a time frame.
Nigeria
announced on December 4 that 500 of the nearly 1,400 people who were arrested
in security operations between July and September last year should be put on
trial for terror offences.
But it also
said that 167 people should be released and the cases of 614 individuals should
be reviewed, following the government’s appointment of a team to look at
individual cases.
President
Goodluck Jonathan’s government announced last May that suspects held as part of
military operations would be released in phases, starting with women and
children.
Thousands of
people have lost their lives during the insurgency in Nigeria’s north, either
in Islamist attacks or as a result of the military response.
Human rights
groups, however, have highlighted the issue of enforced disappearances and
detention without charge of suspected militants, as military operations against
Boko Haram were stepped up.
In October
last year, Amnesty International claimed that more than 950 people had died in
military custody in the first six months of 2013, mostly at barracks in
Maiduguri and Damaturu.
Maiduguri
and Damaturu are the state capitals of Borno and Yobe states respectively