The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has called on the federal government to release activist Omoyele Sowore and withdraw all criminal defamation and cybercrime charges against him following his remand by a Federal High Court in Abuja.
Justice Mohammed Umar ordered Sowore’s remand at the Kuje Correctional Centre pending determination of his application seeking a stay of execution of an earlier order revoking his bail, and dismissed an application seeking the judge’s recusal over alleged bias.
In a statement signed by Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said Sowore was being detained solely for peacefully exercising his fundamental rights. “Nigerian authorities must immediately release Sowore and drop all the bogus charges against him. Authorities must stop weaponizing criminal defamation and cybercrime laws to target journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders and activists,” the statement read.
The organization said journalists and activists increasingly faced criminal charges and arbitrary detention for legitimate work, and warned of the chilling effect of strategic lawsuits against public participation.
