For Immediate Release:

Violence Against Nigerian Political Activist

(New York, March 29, 2003) - A recent attack on the home of a political
activist in Nigeria highlights the need for additional efforts to
protect government critics in the crucial pre-election period, Human
Rights Watch said today.

On March 22, an armed group of eight men broke into the Port Harcourt
home of Ledum Mitee, searching for him unsuccessfully. Mitee is
president of the Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP)
and has been a strong critic of the Rivers State government.

An eyewitness reported to Human Rights Watch that in the early morning
of Saturday, March 22, eight men armed with sophisticated rifles scaled
the outer fence of Mitee's residential compound and entered the home by
climbing a ladder and entering through an upstairs door. The men, who
were partially masked, gathered the seven occupants of the home at
gunpoint and demanded to be led to Ledum Mitee. When it was explained
that Mitee was traveling out of the country, the intruders searched
through the whole house, then departed, warning that they would return.
They took nothing from the home except for a cellular telephone and did
not harm any of the occupants. Mitee had originally planned to return
from a trip abroad the day before this incident.

"Threats and intimidation against political activists are another
worrying sign of the level of political violence in the country," said
Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division at Human
Rights Watch. "This comes on top of political assassinations and
fighting between supporters of different political factions, which have
led to scores of deaths across Nigeria in the last few months."

Ledum Mitee and at least one other MOSOP leader had previously received
threats, including phone calls warning them to "steer clear" of their
political positions, and there were indications that the security
services were closely watching their activities. On the evening of March
23, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, programme officer at MOSOP, was arrested and
questioned by the police at Lagos Airport as he was preparing to travel
to London, on his way to attend the United Nations Human Rights
Commission in Geneva. The police asked him why MOSOP had decided to send
him out of the country at this time, and what MOSOP hoped to achieve. He
was released after about four hours.

MOSOP, formerly led by late Ken Saro-Wiwa, promotes the rights of the
minority Ogoni ethnic group in the oil-producing Niger Delta. It has
frequently criticized the Rivers State government headed by Governor
Peter Odili of the People's Democratic Party (PDP), Nigeria's ruling
party, accusing it of systematically using violence for political ends
among other abuses. MOSOP has also criticized the federal government and
police for failing to control political violence.

Rivers State is the home state of late Marshall Harry, vice chairman for
the south-south zone of Nigeria's main opposition party, the All Nigeria
People's Party (ANPP), who was murdered in his residence in the federal
capital, Abuja, on March 5.

Mitee was interviewed on the radio on March 8, just a few days after the
killing of Marshall Harry, criticizing the state government's use of
violence. MOSOP had also organized meetings in Ogoniland in February, to
which local candidates from all parties were invited to present their
platforms, and urged voters not to support candidates who were not
credible or who had used political violence in the past.

Human Rights Watch urged the federal government and police to urgently
investigate this incident and all cases of political violence, and to
bring the perpetrators to justice regardless of their political
affiliation.

"We are asking the authorities to ensure the safety of activists and to
respect the right of all Nigerians to express their views without fear
of violence," said Takirambudde.

For further information, please contact:
In London, Carina Tertsakian: +44-20-7713-2783
In Washington D.C., Karen Stauss: +1-202-612-4343

--
Jeff Scott
Africa Division
Human Rights Watch
Phone: +1-212-216-1834
Fax: +1-212-736-1300
http://www.hrw.org/africa/index.php
en français, http://www.hrw.org/french/africa/