The Clooney Foundation for Justice is concerned by the most recent arrest of journalist and opposition figure Omoyele Sowore in Nigeria.
Mr. Sowore, who has been on trial on charges of treason and conspiracy to commit treason for more than a year, had been free on bail subject to the condition that he stay in Abuja. After he called for peaceful protests across the country, he was arrested on New Year’s Eve for participating in what the authorities allege was an ‘unlawful gathering.’
A TrialWatch report on the ongoing treason proceedings against Mr. Sowore found that he had been the victim of prosecutorial misconduct. In advance of Mr. Sowore’s next bail hearing, the Clooney Foundation for Justice calls on the Nigerian authorities to ensure that any detention order or prosecution is lawful and not politically-motivated. TrialWatch will continue monitoring Mr. Sowore’s treason trial through the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights.