Abuja
07 July 2008
The treason trial of suspected Nigerian militant Henry Okah resumesMonday at a closed federal high court in the central city of Jos. Fromthe Nigerian capital Abuja, Gilbert da Costa reports Okah could faceadditional charges.
Henry Okah, a suspected leader of theMovement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, MEND, is facing 55counts of treason, terrorism, illegal possession of firearms and armstrafficking.
Okah's defense lawyers are barred from makingdetails of the hearing public, but a member of Okah's defense team, whoasked not to be named, told VOA prosecutors plan to bring sevenadditional charges against his client at Monday's closed court session.
"They'veincreased the charges from 55 to 62," said the lawyer. "They want topre-empt our appeal but it won't be acceptable to us. Already, we areon appeal and one of the things we are appealing against is the factthat out of the 55 charges, the judges only read out two to him. Bycriminal procedure law, they are supposed to read all of them, even ifhe keeps mute or not. This is the fourth time they are amending thecharges since we started."
Court proceedings against Okah beganin April. President Umaru Yar'Adua has argued that the proceedings mustbe kept secret for the sake of national security.
Lawyers for Okah say a closed trial is an infringement of his rights and have asked a superior court to overturn the decision.
Okah was arrested on suspicion of arms smuggling in Angola in September last year and faces the death penalty.
TheMovement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta has claimedresponsibility for a series of attacks on Nigeria's oil infrastructurethat have cut daily production by about one quarter and pushed upinternational crude prices.
The group has vowed to increaseattacks on oil installations to pressure the government to free Okahand give a greater share of oil profits to the impoverished deltaregion.