Nera 10 are leaders of Southern Cameroons, consisting of professors, lawyers, and teachers. On the 5^th of January 2018, they were holding a meeting at Nera hotel to discuss the growing refugee crisis in cross river state of Nigeria due to the ongoing Anglophone crisis in Cameroon. The forcible and illegal abduction of the Nera 10 violated international laws, and not much has been documented about the conditions of their abduction.

They had barely started the meeting when 20 heavily armed gunmen appeared, handcuffed, and blindfolded them. They were then driven for hours to an unknown destination and later detained at the underground facility of Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Abuja. They were held incommunicado for 20 days.

On the 25^th of January 2018, they were again driven to the Nnamdi Azikiwe international airport where a Cameroon military plane was waiting for them. They had no opportunity to resist because they were surrounded by heavily armed military who were ready to shoot.

Their abduction revealed that the Nigerian government violated its own laws while the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) failed in their obligation to protect asylum seekers. Looking at the circumstances of their arrest, the existence of a conspiration between the security services of Nigeria and the government of Cameroon cannot be ruled out because of the following:

• Given their refugee statue in Nigeria, they were not supposed to be extradited to Cameroon without the engagement of a due process of law.
• Detaining them incommunicado at the Nigerian military facility (DIA).
• Transferring them to the Abuja airport where a military aircraft from Cameroon was waiting to pick them up to Yaounde.

It is evident that their fundamental human rights were systematically violated.

In March 2019, the Federal High Court of Abuja ruled in favour of their release. Furthermore, the UN-HRC Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) also asked for their unconditional release.

They were handcuffed and made to sit on inappropriate seats without seat belts and guns pointing at their faces throughout their flight to Cameroon. The soldiers did not stop threatening them of execution if they make the slightest move.

On arrival in Cameroon, they were taken to the State Secretariat for Defence (SED) in Yaounde, a detention facility renown for the widespread use of torture and abuse. At SED, they were held incommunicado again for 10months on grounds of an ongoing investigation with regards to their arrest. This is unacceptable!

It is questionable to abduct and treat them as terrorist without any conviction.

While at SED, they were routinely tortured and abused. Their bodies were molested as they were made to undress, line up naked, while being touched at awkward places and making mockery of their private parts. The gendarmes took pretext of searching them to abuse them in extremely inhumane and degrading manner, subjecting them to all forms of physical and psychological trauma. They were offered a pair of tracksuits as their only clothing for 46days before given another one. The cell was sprayed with acaricide with them inside to suffocate them with the smell.

Torturing and abusing the Nera 10 is illegal, cruel, inhumane, forbidden, unacceptable and unjustified. This is extreme and inappropriate, a catastrophe against their fundamental human rights.

On the 22^nd of November 2018, they were transferred to the central prison at Kondengui where the population of inmates detained is over ten times the capacity of the prison. Living conditions are extremely poor and deadly, coupled with abusive routine searches and treatments.

As asylum seekers and refugees abducted illegally from Nigeria, they were not supposed to be tried in a military court which does not regard civilian judicial norms. During their trial, they were deprived legal aid, and contact or emotional support from their families and loved ones. They were tried in French, a language they could not speak or understand while on the other hand, the judge and prosecutors were unresponsive to the use of English language. One of them became uncomfortable and collapsed during the court proceedings. The trial continued to condemn him for life imprisonment while he laid helplessly struggling for survival.

The court proceedings which started at about midday on the 19^th of August 2019, ended at 5:30 am the next day, that is the 20^th of August 2019. The trial that was raced for 19hours was grossly wanting in due diligence.

They were charged with crime and sentenced to life imprisonment in a language they neither speak nor understood and without any legal representation.

What is the wrong in advocating for the restoration of the independence of Southern Cameroons? As a people, we have the right to self-determination and a voice to decide our future. Justice was denied Southern Cameroons in 1961.We wanted total independence, but the United Nations imposed a plebiscite on us which was reduced to two alternatives. To gain independence by either joining Nigeria or Cameroon, excluding the option of gaining independence as a nation. Southern Cameroons has clearly demarcated international boundaries with a surface area of about 43,000km square. Her territory is larger than some member states of the African Union. A federal constitution was imposed on us by Cameroon, on the day our independence was supposed to take effect, that is, the 1^st of October 1961. Today, we stand for the restoration of our lost statehood.

The Nera 10 didn’t commit any crime known to law. They are languishing in the dungeons of kondengui, detained against international laws and serving life sentences. Their continuous detention is a human right scandal, and this is to call on the attention of the international community to investigate on the extent to which they are unjustly being detained and abused, given that in March 2019, the Federal High Court of Abuja had ordered their unconditional release. This is proof that they are innocent of all allegations laid against them by the Cameroon government. Human rights are for them as well.    

#freethenera10

#endanglophonecrisis

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Dorothy Arrey