Outcry over mass trial courtroom footage

Scenes of young Nigerians fainting while in court for their involvement in widespread anti-government protests have sparked controversy over detention conditions and police violence. On Friday, 76 Nigerians, many of them youths, were taken to court in Abuja to stand trial almost three months after their arrest for taking part in demonstrations against the country’s economic turmoil. The Citizen reports that social media was awash with videos showing several minors sitting or lying on the courtroom floor, and holding their stomachs. ‘The footage reveals minors, some so weak that they could barely stand, others fainting from sheer exhaustion and lack of nourishment,’ said politician Peter Obi, who unsuccessfully contested the 2023 presidential election. ‘These children appeared visibly malnourished and starved,’ he wrote on X. Amnesty International condemned the saga, calling it ‘one of the deadliest attempts to suppress freedom of assembly’ so far. ‘President Bola Tinubu must unconditionally release minors detained since August,’ the rights group said.