Nigeria: Release Labour Activists

The authorities should investigate state involvement in breaking up a peaceful union meeting and arresting the union activists in violation of the right to freedom of association and assembly, the groups said. [...] The security agents stormed the meeting, at the state secretariat of the Nigerian Labour Congress, and attempted to arrest Ugwu, according to the witnesses. [...] After the two men had been taken to the police vehicle, a police officer was hit in the head and injured by a stone thrown from the crowd, a police sergeant said. [...] The chief magistrate lacked the jurisdiction to hear the case but remanded them to prison pending a decision by the state attorney general whether to file charges at the High Court, a practice known as a “holding charge.” On 3 November the men applied for bail at the state High Court. [...] The apparent complicity of the prosecution and the delays by the court have allowed the state to run roughshod over their fundamental rights.