[JURIST] UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Manfred Nowak [UN profile] accused Nigeria's national police of widespread human rights violations Monday, telling the UN Human Rights Council [official website] that Nigerian police routinely tortured suspects during investigations. Nowak also deplored Nigeria's unsanitary and overcrowded detention facilities, saying that some prisoners even lacked food and water. The UN Human Rights Council is conducting its 7th session [official website] in Geneva, and will hear reports [UN materials] from independent experts and UN missions to various states until March 28.

In February, Amnesty International [advocacy website] accused Nigerian prisons of systematically violating [PDF text; JURIST report] the human rights of inmates. Amnesty has also previously accused Nigeria [JURIST news archive] of secretly executing at least seven prisoners [JURIST report] in recent years, saying that the executed prisoners were generally tried without representation and were not given any opportunity to appeal their convictions. AP has more.