Letter From Moses
Moses Akatugba was 16 when he was arrested in November 2005 by the Nigerian army. He was accused of stealing some mobile phones, a crime he says he never committed.
Moses was tortured in detention: shot in the hand, beaten and hung for hours in interrogation rooms after his arrest. Sent from army to police detention, officers used pliers to extract his finger and toe nails and forced him to sign a ‘confession’.
After eight years in prison, he was sentenced to death by hanging.
In 2015 we made a film that was used by Amnesty International in their Write For Rights campaign. Over 800,000 messages were sent by activists around the world.
In May 2015 Moses was released.
In 2020 young people like Moses continue to face extortion and illegal detention by Nigerian security forces. Torture is routine.
In the middle of a pandemic, following waves of protest against police brutality from America to Australia, young people across Nigeria came out onto the streets. They demanded an end to violent and systemic security force corruption, and the deeper inequality and disenfranchisement that has left so many without protection or support through the pandemic.
This letter from Moses is a letter to us all.
