A Federal High Court in the Ilorin, presided over by Justice A. Olayinka Faji, has freed Alhaji Abdullahi Mustapha Berende, who was accused of terrorism by State Security Service (SSS).
The court also fined the SSS the sum of N1.5million in favour of the applicant for damages.
In the suit filed on January 3, 2013, Berende had sought for the enforcement of his fundamental human rights and a declaration that his continuous detention by the SSS is a gross and flagrant violation and infringement of his fundamental human rights to freedom of movement.
In his ruling, Faji declared that, “the arrest and detention of the applicant without trial since December 17, 2012 under the condition and control and power of the respondent is illegal, baseless and unconstitutional.
“The continuous holding of the applicant in the custody of the State Security Service is a gross and flagrant violation and infringement of the applicant’s fundamental human rights to freedom of movement.
“The respondents are also ordered to release the applicant on bail pending his arraignment before a court of competent jurisdiction.
“It may be that the respondents are fighting the scourge of terrorism which affects national security but there is however a need to maintain the clear balance between law enforcement and protection of human rights.
“Human rights violations cannot and must not be justified by waving the flag of terrorism.
“After all, the suspects are presumed innocent until the prosecution establishes otherwise.
“In the circumstances, therefore, I award a sum of N1,500,000 in favour of the applicant and against the respondents as damages.”
The SSS had on Wednesday February 22, 2013 said in Abuja that it had uncovered a terror network coordinated by Iranians in Lagos.
The SSS said this while parading a leader of an Islamic sect, Abdullahi Berende, and two others said to be operators of the Iranian terror cell gathering information about Israelis and Americans living in Nigeria.
The SSS had paraded Sulaiman Saka and Saheed Adewunmi alongside 50-year-old Berende. The three were said to be working for Iranian terrorists planning to attack Americans and Israelis in the country.
Deputy Director Public Relations, SSS, Marilyn Ogar, told journalists that Berende, an Islamic teacher, and local leader of the Shiite sect, was observed to have made several suspicious trips to and fro Iran where he interacted with some Iranians known to operate a high profile international terrorist network.
Ogar said that in the course of interrogation, Berende confessed that in 2006, he gained admission to do a six-month course in modern Shi’a Islamic teaching (Da’awa) at Imam Khomeini University, Iran.