The attached Independent article and Human Rights Watch World Report 1996 excerpt, as well as Amnesty International Report 1996 and Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1995, which are available at Regional Documentation Centres, provide information on the arrest and trial of General Obasanjo and some other military officers and civilians for their involvement in an alleged 1995 coup plot.

According to an Amnesty International report entitled Nigeria: A Travesty of Justice: Secret Treason Trials and Other Concerns, unidentified friends and relatives of the persons involved in the above-mentioned coup attempt, as well as journalists and human rights activists who exposed "the injustices" of the arrests and trials of the alleged coup plotters, were arrested and "secretly convicted by the Special Military Tribunal on charges of concealment treason or being accessories to treason, and sentenced to long prisons terms as prisoners of conscience" (26 Oct. 1995, 2).

According to Human Rights Watch/Africa, John Paul Mokuolu, a son of an unidentified brother of General Obasanjo, was detained for 31 days in April and May 1996 and subsequently released under diplomatic pressure from the British government (Sept. 1996, 23).

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Amnesty International. 26 October 1995. Nigeria: A Travesty of Justice: Secret Treason Trials and Other Concerns. (AI Index: AFR 44/23/95). London: Amnesty International.

Human Rights Watch (HRW)/Africa. September 1996. Vol. 8, No. 3. Nigeria: "Permanent Transition": Current Violations of Human Rights in Nigeria. New York: Human Rights Watch/Africa.

Attachments

Amnesty International. 26 October 1995. Nigeria: A Travesty of Justice: Secret Treason Trials and Other Concerns. (AI Index: AFR 44/23/95). London: Amnesty International, pp. 1-2.

Human Rights Watch (HRW). December 1995. Human Rights Watch World Report 1996. New York: Human Rights Watch, pp. 34-35.

Human Rights Watch (HRW)/Africa. September 1996. Vol. 8, No. 3. Nigeria: "Permanent Transition": Current Violations of Human Rights in Nigeria. New York: Human Rights Watch/Africa, p. 23.

The Independent [London]. 27 June 1995. "Britain Protests to Nigeria over Secret Trial." (NEXIS)

Additional Sources Consulted

Africa Confidential [London]. 1995-96.

Africa Research Bulletin [Oxford]. 1995-96.

Amnesty International country file (Nigeria). 1995-96.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1995-96.

News from Africa Watch. 1995-96.

On-line search of news articles.