Libya: 220 Nigerians face execution

  1. Posted on Tuesday 11 August 2009 - 12:14
    KingsleyKobo
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    Kingsley Kobo, AfricaNews reporter in Abidjan, Ivory Coast
    Nigerians in the diaspora inundated their country's news websites with e-mail petitions against the probable execution of some 220 Nigerian youths in Libya, who have been accused of illegal entry. News reports said Nigerian authorities were not aware of the situation and were shocked at the news.
    Lybia map
    A Nigerian national daily, Vanguard, reported the urgency of the e-mails alerts, which called on the government to intervene in no time to prevent the killing of these Nigerians.

    30 youths, according to the e-mails, were allegedly executed in the early hours of Thursday in a prison yard in Tripoli, the Libyan capital, according to News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

    One of the reports quoted a 37-year-old man from Imo State (eastern Nigeria) who said he was arrested alongside other Nigerians for entering the North African country without valid documents, and was awaiting execution.

    According to quotes from other victims, the Libyan forces arrested them in the desert while trying to cross to Europe. But they said they were never involved in any criminal activities.

    Nigerian ambassador to Austria, Jerry Ugokwe, was quoted responding to e-mails to his embassy on the issue, that he would “call the ambassador in Libya to alert him and we shall find a solution to the problem. No nation has the right to kill any Nigerian. We will fight it with all our might.”

    Neither the Libyan authorities nor Nigerian ministry of exterior affairs would comment on the issue for now, according to reports.

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