Since January 2016 at least 149 people, including eleven children under the age of six, have died following their detention in horrendous conditions at Giwa barracks military detention centre, Maiduguri. Their bodies were deposited at a mortuary in Maiduguri and then buried in the city’s cemetery. This represents a significant increase in the rate of deaths in the barracks compared with the second half of 2015. This briefing provides additional evidence of deaths in military detention, and torture or other ill treatment by the Nigerian military. In this context, military officers should be investigated for their potential criminal responsibility for the war crimes of murder and torture.
