Policy Alert Condemns Detention of Human Rights Lawyer
Policy Alert, a civil society organisation working to promote economic and ecological justice in the Niger Delta, has condemned the detention of human rights lawyer Inibehe Effiong over alleged contempt of court by the Akwa Ibom State chief judge, Ekaette Obot.
Justice Obot had reportedly ordered the lawyer to be sent to prison while Effiong was representing the defendant in a libel case filed by the State Governor, Mr. Udom Emmanuel.
Executive Director of the organisation, Tijah Bolton-Akpan, in a statement issued in Uyo this afternoon, said: “This is judicial highhandedness and must be called out as such. The entire courtroom drama, not least the denial of a fair hearing for the accused, gives an indication of a clandestine agenda against human rights defenders and must be widely condemned as an attack on civic space.
“We demand the immediate release of Effiong. The detained lawyer has been an intrepid voice against human rights violations by state actors and we see this unwarranted flexing of judicial muscles as a thinly veiled attempt to silence him.
“We also call on the National Judicial Council to take immediate actions to ensure that the judiciary is not turned into a tool for repression and the expression of undisguised partisan loyalties by judicial officers.”