{"id":81746,"date":"2021-06-06T18:17:49","date_gmt":"2021-06-06T17:17:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=81746"},"modified":"2021-06-06T18:17:49","modified_gmt":"2021-06-06T17:17:49","slug":"serap-asks-commonwealth-to-sanction-nigeria-over-twitterban-repression","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/exclusive\/serap-asks-commonwealth-to-sanction-nigeria-over-twitterban-repression\/","title":{"rendered":"SERAP asks Commonwealth to sanction Nigeria over #TwitterBan, repression"},"content":{"rendered":"<div dir=\"auto\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an Urgent Appeal to Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, urging her to \u201capply the Commonwealth Charter to hold the Nigerian government to account over the unlawful suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, and the resulting repression of human rights particularly the rights to freedom of expression, access to information and media freedom, as well as flagrant disregard for the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The organization asked Ms Scotland to \u201curgently consider recommending the suspension of Nigeria from the Commonwealth to the Heads of Government, the Commonwealth Chair-in-office, and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, as Head of the Commonwealth to push the government to take concrete measures to respect and promote the Commonwealth\u2019s values of human rights, transparency, accountability and the rule of law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the Urgent Appeal dated 5 June, 2021 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: \u201cThe Nigerian government has repeatedly demonstrated that it is not committed to protecting human rights. The Commonwealth should take a clear stand to ensure accountability of institutions, freedom of expression and access to information in Nigeria.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SERAP said: \u201cNigerians can only freely participate in the democratic processes and shape the society in which they live if these fundamental human rights are fully and effectively respected, protected and promoted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to SERAP, \u201cThe suspension has the character of collective punishment and is antithetical to the Nigerian Constitution and the country\u2019s international obligations. Nigerian authorities would seem to be suppressing people\u2019s access to Twitter to exploit the shutdown to cover up allegations of corruption, abuses, and restrict freedom of expression and other fundamental rights.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\" style=\"text-align: justify;\"><\/div>\n<div dir=\"auto\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Urgent Appeal, copied to Mr Ant\u00f3nio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations; and Ms Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, read in part: \u201cThe Nigerian government has also called for the prosecution of those who violate its order suspending Twitter operations in Nigeria. This order for prosecution of Twitter users violates the legal rule that there should be no punishment without law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe principle that only the law can define a crime and prescribe a penalty (nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege) is a fundamental part of Nigerian constitutional jurisprudence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Commonwealth Charter recognises the right of individuals to participate in democratic processes, in particular through peaceful exercise of their freedom of expression and access to information, which apply both offline and online.\u201d<\/p><\/div>\n<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on the_content --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on the_content -->","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent an Urgent Appeal to Rt Hon Patricia Scotland QC, Secretary-General of the Commonwealth, urging her to \u201capply the Commonwealth Charter to hold&hellip;<!-- AddThis Advanced Settings generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Share Buttons generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><!-- AddThis Related Posts generic via filter on wp_trim_excerpt --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - 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