A Prisoner Has Rights – Human Rights Lawyer … Says Poverty Can Engender Jungle Justice
By UbongAbasi Ise
The Coordinator of Akwa Ibom
State Human Rights Community, Barr. Clifford Thomas, while condemning the spate
of mob justice perpetrated by the indigenes of the state, says the accused
persons do enjoy rights to fair hearing, adding that even those in the prison
custody, still have certain rights that should be protected by law.
At a Passion FM morning
programme yesterday, Barr. Thomas said a person is innocent until proven guilty,
while blaming jungle justice on lack of confidence in the judiciary system and
delays commonly experienced in the process of dispensing justice.
“The law says a person is
innocent until proven guilty, and you cannot prove a man guilty without going
to court.
“The police ought to be
protecting the accused persons knowing that they also have the rights even when
condemned. Everybody found guilty by the court also has rights; the ones in
police custody have rights; the man in prison has rights, just very few rights
are taken from him, that is, the freedom of movement, and even at that, he
still has the freedom of movement within the confines of the prison yard.
“When there is lack of trust
between the government and the governed, people can’t trust their government to
do their job. The institutions appear to have failed. The judiciary, for
instance, has series of procedures, and it has to follow these procedures
because it must accommodate fair hearing. There are a lot of things that makes
judiciary to appear to be a slow grinding mill of justice. The environment is
not good for them. Those on the bench
still take notes by longhand, whereas there supposed to be stenographers and
all of these modern equipments available for them. They can’t proceed with the
matter in the next three months; the people are watching; the public is angry,”
said the human rights lawyer.
While blaming government for
“taking time to cook poverty” and dispenses it to the masses, Barr. Clifford
Thomas said the frustration associated with the weak purchasing power of the
common people makes stealing of common items highly intolerable, thus provoking
people to resort to lynching of the accused persons when such occasion arises.
©The Sensor Newspaper
Recent Posts
Related Posts
Any News for
Us? ubongabasiise@gmail.com | +2348023151931
Comments
Post a Comment