Human rights lawyer, Mr Deji Adeyanju has appealed to former First Lady Dame Patience Jonathan to withdraw an ongoing case over alleged theft of jewellery on compassionate grounds, following the reported death in prison custody of one of the accused persons, Sahabi Liman.
Adeyanju made the plea in an open letter titled: “Open Letter by Deji Adeyanju to Dame Patience Jonathan after the death of Her Former Domestic Staff Standing Trial for Theft of Jewellery in Bayelsa Prison”, which was made available to reporters on Tuesday.
He noted that Liman, one of 15 former domestic staff of Dame Jonathan who was arrested in 2019, allegedly fell gravely ill in custody and died, stressing that “death is a reminder that justice delayed so severely becomes no justice at all.
“For more than five years now, fifteen of your former domestic staff have been standing trial over allegations of missing jewellery. They were arrested in 2019, kept in custody, and have since been dragged through the courts without resolution. Along the way, one of them, Sahabi Liman, fell seriously ill in prison and has now died,” Adeyanju wrote.
He argued that even if the accused were guilty, they would not have spent this long in detention for such an offence, adding that their prolonged suffering was unjustifiable if they were innocent.
“I therefore appeal to you as a mother figure in our nation to discontinue this case as an act of fairness, to let compassion guide your decision and allow these ex-workers a chance to rebuild their lives,” he concluded.
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