Sowore subjected to dehumanizing conditions in police custody – Falana

Human rights lawyer, Mr. Femi Falana, has revealed how the Convener of the #RevolutionNow movement, Mr. Omoyele Sowore is being maltreated, tortured, and subjected to dehumanising conditions since his arrest on Thursday by the Police.

Falana, who in a statement, said he had received instructions from Omoyele Sowore, to sue the Nigeria Police Force for torture, said Sowore was allegedly arrested on New Year eve for leading a protest against the Federal Government in Abuja.

“Since Mr. Sowore’s fundamental right to dignity has been recklessly violated by the police, we have his instructions to press for charges against all the officers who subjected him to physical and mental torture in contravention of the letter and spirit of the provisions of the Anti-Torture Act of 2017.”

Falana wondered why his client would be denied bail for two consecutive days because he was alleged to have breached the COVID-19 protocols.

Sowore, who was covering an event at the time of his arrest, had insisted that he did not breach any of the COVID-19 regulations.

Falana said: “He (Sowore) had been badly beaten and locked up in a detention facility along with armed robbery suspects.

“The police officers who arrested Mr. Omoyele Sowore at Abuja on December 31, 2020, subjected him to severe beating and left him with bruises all over his body.

“As if that was not enough he has been locked up in the midst of armed robbery suspects at a notorious detention facility called abattoir, maintained by the disbanded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) in Abuja.”