Some 4,000 Nigerians are in detention in China where they are allegedly subjected to inhuman treatment. They accuse the authorities of using them as human machines. They are urging the Federal Government to intervene, writes JOSEPH JIBUEZE.
When Mrs Amaka Louis got married, she dreamt of spending the rest of her life with her husband, a businessman. But that dream was cut short after he travelled to China for business but never returned.
“I’m married but I have been living like a widow for over two years and six months,” she wept.
“It has been a painful experience for me. I’m pleading with the government to intervene. I haven’t even heard from him all this time. I’ve contacted the Nigerian Embassy, to know if I could speak to my husband. I’ve been calling but to no avail.”
Mrs Louis is among many who are demanding justice for their relatives who are victims of alleged unfair treatment by Chinese authorities.
Through a non-governmental organisation, The Patriotic Citizens Initiative, they held an advocacy rally in Lagos, calling for the government’s urgent intervention.
According to PCI’s director, Osita Osaneme, a lawyer, no fewer than 40 Nigerians are executed yearly or die mysteriously in Chinese prisons, some after undergoing unfair or no trials.
The families bore placards, some of which read: “China, give Nigerians fair trial;” “China, stop killing Nigerians;” and “Nigerians die monthly in Chinese prisons”.
Prisoners relive ordeal
The prisoners, in a statement, accused the prison authorities of violating their rights. They said they are not allowed to contact their families, nor are they given access to lawyers for proper representation in court.
According to them, cases are deliberately delayed by the police, prosecutors and judges so as to force suspects to confess to crimes they did not commit. Such delays, they said, last for as long as five years, with the suspects kept in detention until they give in.
They alleged that prisoners who are sick are not given proper care. According to them, in Guangdon Province prison, suspects are forced to shower with cold water during winter even if it leads to their untimely death. Relatives are also allegedly denied visas.
“We Africans in Chinese prisons and detention centres are treated as lower humans,” the prisoners wrote.
Treated like human machines
According to the prisoners, their right to call their families is tied to the amount of work they do. Despite being turned to human machines, the pittance given them is not enough to buy toiletries.
“Our phone bill per month in some prisons is as high as 6RMB, but we are paid as low as 1RMB or 0.5RMB. We labour day after day, yet after serving for even up to 20 years, inmates cannot even boast of up to one dollars savings,” they said.
Speaking at the rally, Francis Jones, who was detained for over a year, said: “Nigerians in prisoners are used as labourers in producing most things made in China, yet they are not paid up to the minimum wage. They set targets based on what machines produce. If you don’t meet the target, your sentence won’t be commuted.”
Unfair trial
Due to language deficiencies, some Nigerians in detention do not know what is being said during trial, which is conducted in Chinese. Long sentences are handed to first time offenders.
Jones recalled that he was arrested for allegedly assaulting his Chinese wife. “I was detained for a year and three months without making calls. I was not allowed to contact my people nor were they allowed to see me for an issue that I was asked to come and clear myself.
“I was accused of violating my wife’s rights; that I touched her, whereas I didn’t, which did not warrant being detained for an hour. Whoever wants to go to China should be careful. Those people are dangerous,” he said.
On how he was released, Jones said: “My Chinese wife helped me. I fired my first lawyer who wanted to collude with the Chinese to alter my statement. The Chinese hate blacks. All they want is our money. My wife used to pay through her nose for me to be a bit comfortable in prison – just to get fresh air. Sometimes my temperature would rise so high.”
The prisoners some of them were picked up based on mere suspicions or coincidences, or being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Sometimes people are manipulated into committing crimes they did not intend to. The police will refuse to investigate thoroughly or verify allegations before making arrests,” they said.
Alleged organ harvesting
The prisoners said although some of them are found guilty as charged, it is degrading to harvest the organs of those condemned.
“People are sentenced to death for the purpose of harvesting their organs for sale,” they alleged.
According to the prisoners, so many of their colleagues who are not even on death row cannot be accounted for.
“We urge the Nigerian government to look for them and find out what happened. The Chinese government should also release photographs, DNA and details of all unclaimed dead Africans or provide their ashes if incinerated to African embassies in China so that the families can lay them to rest.
“Because some Africans entered China with fake passports or without passports, the only way to identify these hundreds of bodies and ashes is by releasing their pictures and through DNA testing,” they wrote.
Unfair sentencing
According to the prisoners, sentences handed Nigerian suspects are unfathomable.
“If one is arrested in China, you are kept for as long as three years before trial. If you are found guilty and given a death sentence with two years suspension, it will take about three years to change the verdict to life sentence.
“You have to wait for another three years to be given a fixed term which is usually between 20 and 25 years. You will discover that it takes about nine years for a sentence to be converted to a fixed term. These nine years is not counted as part of the time served.
“All this is because the Chinese government uses prisoners as working machines to make their products at no cost. Most of the ‘Made in China’ products are produced in Chinese prisons by prisoners at little or no labour cost,” they said.
The prisoners urged the African Union and the Nigerian government to always demand to know when Africans in Chinese prisons were arrested.
“If the Chinese tell you a Nigerian has served two years, it may mean 11 years when counted from the day of arrest. Some have stayed in prison for up to 10 years since their arrest, yet they have 20 more years to serve,” they said.
Unjust judicial system
According to the prisoners, Chinese authorities promote police officers, prosecutors and judges based on the number of people they are able to convict.
“In the desperate need for promotion, these officials rape and abort justice, cover up the truth and line up false witnesses in their own selfish interests and due to their hatred for Nigerians. They hand out excessive sentences to Africans because their governments do not care about their citizens,” the prisoners said.
Tales of ordeal
Jones said when he learned of the rally, he had to attend because he witnessed first-hand what Nigerians go through in Chinese prisons.
“What is happening there is really scary. I never pray for anyone to experience it, because it is hell on earth. What we read in the news is different from how the Chinese treat Nigerians there. They treat the black people like animals. They trade human organs. They subject people to hard labour.
“If you don’t work hard enough, your sentence will not be commuted. For instance if you’re given 20 years, if you’re very hard working, they could reduce the sentence. There are thousands of Nigerians in Chinese prisons being used as slaves. Most of them don’t know when they are coming back home because the government doesn’t care for them.
“China has prisoner exchange programmes with other countries where citizens return to serve prison terms in their countries.
“So, we’re calling on Nigerians to intervene for our citizens. Many have died. Sometimes they will execute Nigerians and says ‘the embassy signed for your death.’”
For Miss Nkiru Ezeonu, whose only brother has been in detention for years, urged the Buhari administration to intervene urgently.
“My only brother is in detention in China. He’s been in prison for over seven years. We have been pleading with the government to intervene so that they are given more humane treatment or bring them back to Nigeria to serve here,” she said.
A returnee prisoner, Chidi Cruiz, said close to 80 Nigerians died in Chinese prisons since last year.
He added: “Our people are going through hell in those prisons. I spent nine years and a month there. We’re pleading with government to do something urgently to release our people or bring them back home to serve their sentence. They treat us like animals. Some are not even guilty of the crimes they are accused of because no fair trial.
“Sometimes our embassy doesn’t believe the things we tell them. The embassy staff come there (to the prisons) once in a while but the problems persist.
“The Chinese authorities confiscated everything I had, all my sweat. I was set up with a Chinese woman. They found foreign currencies in my place and I was charged with money laundering.
“During trial they didn’t even allow me to make a call. They would intimidate you because you have nobody there to stand up for you. There’s no human rights there. It’s like slavery. During trial, the people they bring to translate don’t even understand English. They mis-translate English to China,” Cruiz said.
Chimezie Njoku, whose relative is also in detention in China, said if there is an enabling environment, youths would not go to China in search of “greener pastures”.
His words: “Through government’s help, they can return. Our country should not abandon its citizens abroad. And when these people return, they should be helped to resettle because they can contribute to the growth of this country. There are so many able bodied Nigerians languishing in prisons.
“If the child of a governor or minister or top politician were detained, the government would surely go after him. But because it involves ordinary Nigerians, the government feels unconcerned. They don’t care for the ordinary Nigerians. And that is why other countries take us for granted.
“Also, if there was an enabling environment, I don’t see why Nigerians would be trooping to China to seek employment. We have the resources to be an industrialised nation, but the problem has always been management.”
‘Enforce their rights’
Osaneme said the Buhari administration must ensure that the rights of Nigerians in Chinese prisons are enforced.
“It is true that most of them might have committed offences, but these people were not given fair hearing. I interviewed some of them and they said they were just dumped in prisons there. The prison authorities perpetrate all sort of atrocities against them, break their legs.
“All of this is because nobody is asking questions. I feel that it is necessary for us to ask government to intervene. The government must investigate if these things are actually true because they are atrocities.
“If a country can be harvesting Nigerian citizens’ organs, it is very wrong. There are procedures for these things. If there is a drug crime or a case of illegal migration, there are procedures. People should be given access to justice.
“So, we’re asking the Federal Government to please intervene. If possible, send a delegate to find out if what these Nigerians are saying is true. These Nigerians have wives and children back home. We’re not saying they may not have committed any offence, but the government should intervene because an accused also has rights,” the lawyer said.
He continued: “Former President Olusegun Obasanjo went to Thailand to rescue Nigerians suffering there. If you commit an offence in Thailand now, you ccan ome back and serve your prison term in Nigeria.
“If Nigerians in China are demanding that they want to serve their prison terms in Nigeria, the government should go into agreement with Chinese authorities. That is our demand,” he said.
‘Bring us back home’
The prisoners urged the government to prevail on the Chinese government to repatriate those of them who have served at least five years or more in prisons.
“The Chinese government should bring African countries to a roundtable and discuss repatriation of their citizens. China has benefited so much from Africa yet they treat us like animals.
“If African countries decide to crack down on the Chinese some of who also engage in illegal activities on the continent, there will be many Chinese prisoners in African prisons, if not that our governments turn a blind eye to their illicit activities in Africa.
“The African Union and the Nigerian government should make effort to bring back Nigerians in Chinese prisons,” the prisoners added.
