Nigeria: Investigate killings by security forces

Source Human Rights Watch

The Plateau State Judicial Commission of Inquiry in Nigeria should investigate and call for the prosecution of members of the security forces responsible for the alleged killing of more than 130 people in November 2008, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch testified before the commission on July 20, 2009 in Jos, the capital of Plateau State in central Nigeria, where on November 28-29, 2008, sectarian violence between Muslim and Christian mobs left hundreds dead. During the testimony, Nigeria Researcher Eric Guttschuss recounted chilling accounts of policemen and soldiers gunning down unarmed citizens in their homes, chasing down and killing men trying to flee to safety, and lining victims up on the ground and summarily executing them. Human Rights Watch conducted on-the-ground research in Jos in the immediate aftermath of the violence and in February 2009.