Four convicts hanged in Edo State, one saved by 'technical issues'

Traumatized inmates heard screams and thuds from the gallows as Nigerian authorities Monday hanged four convicted criminals in the West African nation’s first known executions since 2006, a human rights lawyer said.

A fifth man who was to be hanged at Benin City Prison was saved when the executioner had technical problems with the gallows, Chino Obiagwu of the national lawyers’ rights group LEPAD told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

Amnesty International said the man, identified as Thankgod Ebhos by Obiagwu, is at “imminent risk of execution.”  The London-based organization’s deputy Africa director, Lucy Freeman, said the hangings would mark “a truly dark day for human rights” in Africa’s most populous nation.

Attorney General Henry Idahagbon of southern Edo state confirmed the four executions, the official News Agency of Nigeria reported.

Obiagwu said the men were hanged despite pending suits at the appeal court and had been on death row for 16 years. He said two were his clients, convicted of murder, but he did not know for what crimes the others had been sentenced.

“Under Nigerian laws, an appeal and application for stay of execution should restrain further action ... By executing the prisoners, Nigeria’s government has demonstrated a gross disregard to the rule of law and respect for the judicial process,” he said.