A protest broke out at the Kuje Prisons near Abuja on Thursday over
alleged preferential treatment of three Lebanese inmates by officials of
the facility.
The Lebanese prisoners - Mustapha Fawaz, Abdallah Thahani and Talal
Ahmed Rodo - believed to be members of an international terrorist
group, Hezbollah, were said to have been allowed to use a particular
area of the prison ground for the Eid-fitri prayers while other inmates, including Boko Haram suspects, were restricted to another place.
The Lebanese are standing trial at a Federal High Court, Abuja, for terrorism and illegal importation of firearms.
The protesting inmates destroyed some amenities, including water pipes, electric cables and cell windows.
It was gathered that the angry inmates also splashed water on some of the prison officials who ran for their safety.
A Boko Haram inmate serving a life sentence was said to have fainted during the melee.
It was learnt that the tension was brought under control by the Deputy
Comptroller-General in charge of Operations, Mr. Segun Bewaji, who
attended to the convict that fainted. But the inmates in the single
cells were restive and refused to be pacified by the DCG.
The Lebanese suspects were moved to the prison on August 2, 2013 based
on an application by their lawyer, Ahmed Raji(SAN), who claimed that
they were no longer comfortable in the custody of the State Security
Service.
The court had granted the application and the suspects were promptly transferred to Kuje Prisons.
When contacted, the Prisons Public Relations Officer, Ope Fatinikun,
claimed that the protest had nothing to do with the Lebanese inmates.
He added that it was caused by two groups struggling to use a particular place for the Eid-fitri worship.
'I don't want to give anybody names, but the incident was caused by two
groups (of inmates) who wanted to use a particular place for their
prayers; but the situation has been brought under control. We talked to
them and they saw reason with us, 'he said.
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