The media will be barred from covering the trial of Boko Haram suspects, says AFP. The report attributed to an official of the justice ministry says security concerns informed the decision.
“The decision was based on the need for confidentiality because of security issues that may come up during the trial”, said the official whom AFP didn’t identify.
The said officials was also quoted as saying the British High Commission and US Embassy in Abuja, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, and the International Red Cross would be given “observer status”.
“They will be able to monitor how proceedings are carried out and obviously the suspects will be given legal representation,” he added.
The trials will take place in military detention facilities in Kainji, Kogi state, and New Bussa, in Niger state, both in central Nigeria.
Hearings will also be held in the Borno state capital, Maiduguri, where Boko Haram was founded in 2002 and which has been at the epicentre of the long-running violence.
The Nigerian Government announced last week that the trials of more than 1,600 suspects would hold from October 9. The government added it had so far handled 13 cases and secured nine convictions of suspects.
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