Dear Friends,
Isaac Osuoka, a young activist from Environmental Rights Action/FoE Nigeria, was arrested last week and is still being detained and likely tortured. A human rights lawyer attempting to secure Isaac's release has also been arrested.
People who were present at the A SEED 'Electrolux' Gathering in Luxembourg last December will certainly remember him. One of the the many things Isaac was busy with was setting up a thriving A SEED Africa network. He was arrested together with A SEED / Oilwatch coordinator Aart van den Hoek (also present at that meeting), who was released a day later.
Below you will find information that we have received from Human Rights Watch and ERA. We are awaiting word from FoE Nigeria about how we can support them in this frightening situation.
URGENT PRESS RELEASE
Our friend/brother, Isaac Osuoka is still being held by the police in Lagos. He was "captured" last Tuesday night with posters of the Democratic Alternative and copies of our bulletin, Niger Delta Alert. Mr. Bamidele Aturu, a human rights activist/lawyer who went to the Surulere Police Station, Lagos, where he was initially detained,to secure Isaac's release on bail has also been held. They are being held at the Lagos State Police Commissioner's office. This development has now foreclosed any reliable contact we could have maintained with Isaac. We fear he may be tortured because of the impending visit of General Sanni Abacha to Lagos.We are not certain what may have offended the police in the materials found in the car in which Isaac and Aart van den Hoek were travelling.
Mr Osuoka was carrying several copies of the current and previous editions of the Alert for distribution to other African countries Europe and America.The Niger Delta Alert is a very popular news bulletin published monthly by the Delta Information Service,a project of the Environmental Rights Action (Friends of the Earth Nigeria) . The bulletin is distributed via e-mail around the world and printed in hard copies for local communities.It is the only regular newsletter circulating in the Niger Delta region.The bulletin brings to fore environmental and humanrights atrocities of the multinational oil companies,large scale agroindustrial programmes and government and nongovernmental activities which threaten the human ecosystems of the Niger Delta.
Isaac Osuoka,an activist with the Environmental Rights Action { Friends of the Earth Nigeria} is the Programme Officer for Oilwatch Africa . Mr Osuoka was arrested at a roadbloack in Lagos by a combined team of soldiers and police on May 26, 1998, together with a visiting environmentalist from the Netherlands, Aart van den Hoek. They were both attending a conference of the African Forest Action Network [AFAN]. Mr. van den Hoek was detained overnight and released the next morning, May 27.
"This is just the latest in a recent series of arrests, in which human rights activists, journalists and opposition politicians have been rounded up,"said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "The Nigerian military government, which depends on oil for its life blood, has once again demonstrated its determination to prevent any discussion of the negative effects of oil on the environment of the Niger Delta. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Isaac Osuoka and all other political prisoners in Nigeria."
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Environmental Rights Action is the Nigerian chapter of Friends of the Earth International, and is also the co-ordinating NGO for the African region of Oilwatch International, a worldwide network of groups concerned about the effects of oil on the environment of the people who live in the oil producing regions. Aart van der Hoek is the co-ordinator of Oil Watch Europe.
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For further information:
* Uyi Ojo [Benin City], Tel/fax + 234 52 600 165
e-mail: eraction@infoweb.abs.net
* Doifie Ola,(editor, Niger Delta Alert), [Port Harcourt],
e-mail: disera@infoweb.abs.net
Human Rights Watch Concerned for Arrested Human and Environmental Rights Activist in Nigeria
(June 1, 1998) _ Human Rights Watch has learnt with dismay of the arrest of Isaac Osuoka, an activist with the Nigerian human and environmental rights organization, Environmental Rights Action. Mr. Osuoka was arrested at a roadbloack in Lagos by a combined team of soldiers and police on May 26, 1998, together with a visiting environmentalist from the Netherlands, Aart van den Hoek. Both were attending the second biannual conference of the African Forest Action Network and the car they were in contained leaflets relating to human rights abuses in the Niger Delta. Mr. van den Hoek was released the next morning, May 27, after being held overnight in police cells.
"This is just the latest in a recent series of arrests, in which human rights activists, journalists and opposition politicians have been rounded up," said Peter Takirambudde, executive director of the Africa division of Human Rights Watch. "The Nigerian military government, which depends on oil for its life blood, has once again demonstrated its determination to prevent any discussion of the negative effects of oil on the environment of the Niger Delta. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of Isaac Osuoka and all other political prisoners in Nigeria." Others who have recently been detained by the Nigerian government include Olisa Agbakoba, convenor of United Action for Democracy; Bola Ige, former governor of Oyo State; Ayo Opadokun, secretary general of the National Democratic Coalition; Olusegun Mayegun, member of the Committee for Defence of Human Rights; Usman Bugaje, a Muslim intellectual from northern Nigeria; Ayo Alonge, administrative officer of the Campaign for Democracy, and numerous journalists.
Environmental Rights Action is the Nigerian chapter of Friends of the Earth, and is also part of Oil Watch, a worldwide network of groups concerned about the effects of oil on the environment of the people who live in the oil producing regions. Isaac Osuoka is seconded by ERA to coordinate Oil Watch Africa, while Aart van der Hoek is the co-ordinator of Oil Watch Europe.
A SEED Europe
PO Box 92066
1090 AB Amsterdam
Netherlands
tel: 31-20-668-2236
fax: 31-20-665-0166
email: aseedeur@antenna.nl
WWW: http://www.antennna.nl/aseed/