Recently, trials were convened in Nigeria concerning suspected Boko Haram fighters or collaborators arrested several years ago. This has long been an issue, with many condemning the nation for holding prisoners without Trial. Last week, that all came to a head, resulting in the release of 475 people due to lack of evidence. 20, however, were found guilty and sentenced to fifteen years of imprisonment. This recent trial in the Nigerian town of Kainji is one of two mass trials that have seen over 1,600 people brought to court. Roughly 1,000 prisoners have been released since these trials first began in October.
The court has said that these released suspects will be returned to their home state and given rehabilitation prior to being turned over to their families. The justice ministry offered no further explanation as to what this rehabilitation will consist of. There was also no explanation offered as to what will be done with formerly displaced suspects or those whose homes are in areas still under threat of Boko Haram activity.
The subject of these trials, Boko Haram, is a radical Islamist group that has been active in Nigeria for nine years, with its actions so far resulting in the deaths of 20,000 people and the displacement of over 2 million. Among its most notorious actions were the kidnapping of over 200 school girls in 2014.
Despite all this, the current president of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, claims that the group is very much on the decline, and the successes of the Nigerian military these past few years seems to support his claim. However, the group is still very much active, with violence still occurring in the Northeast. Also, the current leader of the group has yet to be apprehended.
It is suspected that a recent bombing of a fish market on the 16th of February was the work of Boko Haram. The attack was a suicide bombing, which the group has become notorious for carrying out. The attack, which reportedly involved three separate bombers, has left at least eighteen, possibly nineteen, dead, and over fifty others wounded.
However, the group has yet to directly take responsibility for the attack, and so any blame so far is little more than speculation. Whether the attack has anything to do with the recent trials, and conviction of twenty people for crimes involving Boko Haram, or the government's claims that the group is on the decline, has yet to be determined.
