“It has not been shown that Mr Dan-Halilu had done anything to warrant any restriction on his exercise of this right or that it merits punishment.”
The Media Rights Agenda has condemned the arrest and continuous detention of Mr Ibrahim Dan-Halilu, a journalist and former Politics Editor of Daily Trust newspaper, by operatives of the Department of State Services.
MRA’s Executive Director, Mr Edetaen Ojo, in a statement, argued that the DSS had no grounds to keep Dan-Halilu, calling for his immediate and unconditional release from custody.
He also argued that the actions of the intelligence agency amounted to a breach of the constitution and Nigeria.
He said, “It is now over one week since Mr Dan-Halilu was arrested and continues to be held in unlawful and unconstitutional detention as no charges have been filed against him nor has he been arraigned before any court of law as required by Section 35(4) and (5) of the constitution. [story_link align="left"]72549[/story_link]
“We strongly condemn such arrogant violation of the constitution and careless disregard for the rights of a citizen.
“The right to freedom of expression is a protected human right both under our constitution and under international human rights law, and the right includes the freedom to impart information and ideas of all kinds through any media of one’s choice.
“It has not been shown that Mr Dan-Halilu had done anything to warrant any restriction on his exercise of this right or that it merits punishment.”
Ojo urged the Nigerian government to order the DSS to release Dan-Halilu from unlawful custody.[story_link align="left"]72351[/story_link]
The journalist was arrested for a post on his Facebookprofile endorsing the #RevolutionNowprotest championed by Omoyele Sowore, who has also remained in DSS custody since August 3, 2019.