Abuja: Nigeria has sentenced 44 members of the Boko Haram jihadist group to jail terms of up to 30 years for financing terrorist activities, as confirmed by a spokesperson for the country’s counterterrorism agency.
According to Nam News Network, the convicted individuals were part of a group of 54 suspects brought before four specially-constituted civilian courts located at a military base in Kainji, Niger state. Abu Michael, a spokesperson for Nigeria’s counterterrorism centre, provided this information in a recent statement. These proceedings mark the resumption of trials that were suspended seven years ago, affecting over 1,000 individuals suspected of being affiliated with the jihadist group. Boko Haram has been engaged in an insurgency to establish a caliphate since 2009.
Nigeria is currently on the grey list of international monitors, which includes countries like South Sudan, South Africa, Monaco, and Croatia, due to inadequacies in countering money laundering and terrorism financing. The Nigerian military has been engaged in a 16-year campaign against the jihadists in the northeast, a conflict that has resulted in the deaths of more than 40,000 people and the displacement of around two million, according to the United Nations.
The violence has also extended beyond Nigeria’s borders into neighboring countries such as Cameroon, Chad, and Niger. In October 2017, Nigeria commenced mass trials of Islamist insurgents, more than eight years after the onset of the violence. That particular phase of the trials lasted five months and led to the conviction of 200 jihadist fighters. Sentences ranged from the death penalty and life imprisonment to prison terms spanning from 20 to 70 years, as reported by Michael. The charges for these convictions included attacks on women and children, destruction of religious sites, civilian killings, and the abduction of women and children.