Thread by @AbdulMahmud01, Tweeps who have expressed concern over the appointment of the Gen Buratai [...]

Tweeps who have expressed concern over the appointment of the Gen Buratai and others as non-career ambassadors say the appointment provides them immunity... Well, if that is what Bubu intends, it shows he is ignorant of developments in international law [Thread]

The crimes for which human rights groups in Nigeria accused Buratai of committing are human rights crimes. What are these crimes? They are as follows:

1. The Zaria Massacre of Shiites and their secret burials;

2. The murder of peaceful protesters of IPOB memmbers in the SE

Errata: *Members*

3. Lekki Massacre

4. The murder of 7 Officers of Igbo extraction without proper adherence to the rule of law.

The concept of sovereign and diplomatic immunity under the Rome Convention long changed following the arrest of Augusto Pinochet in 1998

Recall that the Chilean dictator who lined leftists in the Santiago Stadium following the overthrow of Allende and shot them was arrested at a clinic in Marylebone, London, on the order of the warrant issued by a Spanish judge

Recall that Pinochet as a departing dictator had written himself into the Constitution of Chile as a life Senator with immunity. He flew into London with a diplomatic passport.

The question was: did Pinochet truly have immunity which extended beyond Chile?

In what became the re-definition of immunity in international law, the English court established two clear principles thus:
1. It upheld the universal jurisdiction of human rights.
What this means is that human rights crimes committed in Zaria Nigeria can be tried by court in UK

It is now a precedent following the revitalisation of the universal jurisdiction of human rights that states or international organisations can prosecute individuals regardless of the place where the crimes are committed and the nationalities of the perpetrators and victims.

2. The immunity of heads of state or former heads of state for human rights violations, including diplomats, for human rights violations, was withdrawn. Sovereignty, traditionally understood as the right of a state to respect the independence of other states was redefined.

The idea that governments and personages of power are unaccountable to foreign courts for their domestic actions changed. All states are now subject to the global scrutiny of their actions. Never again could tyrants use immunity as a means to avoid criminal responsibility

It was on account of the precedent set by the English Court in Augusto Pinochet's case that Hissene Habre, the Chadian dictator, was arrested in Senegal, tried and eventually jailed in 2016. He is serving life imprisonment today.

Let's not forget that foreign courts do not just assume jurisdiction over human rights violations without concrete works of investigation undertaken locally. Human rights groups, activists and victims must undertake work. It is not enough to scream: we're going to ICIR

It is the outcome of work done locally that is turned over to foreign groups, if the option is to trigger the juridiction of foreign arrest and prosecution agencies and jurisdiction of courts. Imagine the arrest, even citizens arrest, of Buratai in London for rights violations

With the huge financial resources, goodwill and support that the #EndSARS

received during the protests, one may ask what investigation the movement has undertaken on the killings, particularly the #LekkiMassacre. It doesn't have to wait on CNN, Soyambo or Hundeyin

Or Amara or others who have worked discreetly on the murder of innocent protesters and who're making outcomes known to the world.
Seeing the amputees of 20.10.20, one wonders if they didn't lose their limbs in vein. We move- everyone don move truly: to thy tents O Israel?

Good morning from the sanctum sanctorum of the shrine.

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