Okah trial to be held in camera

By Upstream staff 

A court in Nigeria has ordered the politically-sensitive trial of Niger Delta rebel leader Henry Okah to take place behind closed doors, in a move expected to anger factions of the armed militant group.

Okah, the suspected leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend), refused to enter a plea and told the court that he had been allowed just 30 seconds with his lawyers since his extradition from Angola in February, Reuters reported.

Steven Adah, judge of a Federal High Court in the central Nigerian city of Jos, dismissed an appeal by Okah's lawyers against a previous court ruling that the trial should be held in secret for security reasons and the safety of witnesses.

"The trial should be in camera. The evidence to be given in public might expose Nigeria's defence capabilities to the outside world," Adah ruled.

Defence lawyers said they would appeal against the ruling.

Okah, who told the court his rights had been trampled on and he was traumatised, is charged with treason and gun-running and stands accused of conspiring to wage war against Africa's top oil producer.

He faces the death penalty if convicted.

The decision to try the rebel chief in camera has angered Mend militants who renewed their violent campaign against companies operating in the country's oil patch last month.

02 May 2008 13:09 GMT  | last updated: 02 May 2008 13:41 GMT