Amnesty International
Applauds Release of Patrick Okoroafor, Former Nigerian Child Prisoner, Denied
Fair Trial and Sentenced to Death for Robbery
Source:
http://www.amnestyusa.org/news/press-releases/nigeria-child-prisoner-free-after-17-years
Release comes after relentless campaign by human
rights organization
(New York) – Amnesty International today
welcomed the release of Nigerian prisoner Patrick Okoroafor, 31, who spent half
his life in prison for armed robbery – a crime he says he did not commit, and
was sentenced to death as a juvenile. His release comes after a relentless
global campaign by Amnesty International.
Okoroafor
was just 14 when he was arrested in 1995. He was sentenced to death two years
later.
Amnesty
International considered Okoroafor’s trial to have been grossly unfair and
repeatedly called for his immediate and unconditional release.
“After
Amnesty began its call for my release from prison, and after reading some of
the thousands of letters, cards and messages sent to me by Amnesty supporters,
I began to hope that I would soon be free in the not too distant future,”
said Okoroafor, upon his release.
Okoroafor
was featured regularly in Amnesty’s global solidarity letter-writing campaigns
and received more than 10,000 cards and letters. Local Amnesty chapters in
Washington D.C. and Indianapolis consistently campaigned on his behalf.
Authorities
in Nigeria’s Imo State commuted Okoroafor’s sentence to life in prison months
after the original death sentence was imposed. In October 2001, a High Court
judgment pronounced his death sentence to be unlawful, null and void, and
changed his sentence to indefinite detention “during the pleasure of the
governor.”
In 2009,
one year after Amnesty International launched its campaign to release
Okoroafor,his sentence was reduced to ten years. The following year it was
reduced again to two years. He was finally released on April 30.
“We’re
elated at Patrick Okoroafor’s release,” said Michael O’Reilly, Amnesty
International’s Individuals at Risk campaign director. “Patrick’s case was
a gross miscarriage of justice from start to finish. While he can never regain
the 17 years he lost in prison, he is free now thanks in part to the persistent
actions taken by Amnesty supporters around the world on his behalf.”
Amnesty
International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization
with more than 3 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150
countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates
and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect
people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. Contact:
Suzanne Trimel, strimel@aiusa.org,
212-633-4150
