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By Lizzy Chirkpi
The Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned indefinitely its ruling on the admissibility of extra-judicial statements made by three terrorism suspects, following the conclusion of a trial-within-trial focused on whether the statements were made voluntarily.
Justice Emeka Nwite is presiding over the trial of Haruna Abbas, Ibrahim Musa, and Adam Suleiman, who are being prosecuted for terrorism-related offences including conspiracy, recruitment for terrorist training, surveillance of foreign embassies, and providing support for terrorist acts.
The trial-within-trial became necessary after defence counsel challenged the admissibility of the defendants’ statements, claiming they were extracted under duress. However, at Wednesday’s hearing, the prosecution counsel, Mr. Bello Abu, told the court that the first defendant, Abbas, admitted under cross-examination that his earlier claim of coercion was false.
Abu also noted that the court had directed all parties to file written addresses, but only the prosecution complied within the stipulated time, while one of the defence lawyers had yet to submit.
Although the adoption of written addresses was initially scheduled for October 8, the date was brought forward following a successful application by the prosecution for accelerated hearing during the court’s vacation. The request was approved by the Chief Judge of the Federal High Court.
After final arguments were presented by counsel on both sides, Justice Nwite adjourned the matter sine die and stated that all parties would be notified of the ruling date at least one week in advance through the court registrar.
This case, which has been ongoing since 2014, has suffered repeated delays, including multiple reassignments to different judges, each requiring the trial to restart from scratch.
The defendants are accused of conspiring to commit acts preparatory to terrorism, obtaining Nigerian international passports and Iranian visas for the purpose of traveling to Iran for terrorist training, and recruiting and transporting individuals including the second and third defendants for that training. They are also charged with rendering support to acts of terrorism by agreeing to send persons to Iran for training, participating in terrorist meetings, and compiling and transmitting a list and map of American and Israeli interests in Lagos, including the U.S. Consulate, to a contact in Iran identified as Abu Ali.
Additionally, they allegedly used encrypted communication and coded language via email, in a manner deemed to violate Nigeria’s terrorism laws.
All the offences are said to be in violation of various sections of the Terrorism (Prevention) Act, 2011, as amended by the Terrorism (Prevention) (Amendment) Act, 2013.
Justice Nwite is expected to deliver his ruling on the admissibility of the extra-judicial statements in due course, a decision that could significantly influence the direction of the ongoing trial.