Boko Haram

====State of emergency====
Three days later they began a series of mostly small-scale attacks on Christians and members of the [[Igbo people|Igbo]] ethnic group, causing hundreds to flee. In Kano, on 20 January, they carried out by far their most deadly action yet, an assault on police buildings, killing 190. One of the victims was a TV reporter. The attacks included a combined use of car bombs, suicide bombers and IEDs, supported by uniformed gunmen.<ref name="Congressional"/><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9062825/Al-Qaedas-hand-in-Boko-Harams-deadly-Nigerian-attacks.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/9062825/Al-Qaedas-hand-in-Boko-Harams-deadly-Nigerian-attacks.html |archive-date=11 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Al-Qaeda's hand in Boko Haram's deadly Nigerian attacks |newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|author=David Blair |date=5 February 2012 |access-date=3 August 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref name="MIKE OBOH">{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-violence-idUSTRE80L0A020120122 |title=Islamist insurgents kill over 178 in Nigeria's Kano |work=[[Reuters]]|author=Mike Oboh |date=22 January 2012 |access-date=3 August 2014 |archive-date=17 October 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141017234023/http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/22/us-nigeria-violence-idUSTRE80L0A020120122 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/jan/23/nigerians-pray-suicide-bombers-victims |title=Nigerians offer prayers in Kano for suicide bombers' victims |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |agency=[[Associated Press]] |date= 23 January 2012 |access-date=3 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-16658493 |title=Nigeria's Kano rocked by multiple explosions |publisher=[[BBC News]] |date=21 January 2012 |access-date=3 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/01/boko-haram-fleeing-yobe-christians-become-refugees-in-jos/ |title=Boko Haram: Fleeing Yobe Christians |work=[[Vanguard (Nigeria)]] |author=Taye Obateru |author2=Grateful Dakat |date=22 January 2012 |access-date=3 August 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/01/23/nigeria-boko-haram-widens-terror-campaign |title=Nigeria: Boko Haram Widens Terror Campaign |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=24 January 2012 |access-date=2 August 2014}}</ref>

[[Amnesty International]] and [[Human Rights Watch]] published reports in 2012 that were widely quoted by government agencies and the media, based on research conducted over the course of the conflict in the worst affected areas of the country. The [[NGO]]s were critical of both security forces and Boko Haram. HRW stated "Boko Haram should immediately cease all attacks, and threats of attacks, that cause loss of life, injury, and destruction of property. The Nigerian government should take urgent measures to address the human rights abuses that have helped fuel the violent militancy". According to the 2012 [[US Department of State]] ''[[United States' Country Reports on Human Rights Practices|Country Report on Human Rights Practices]]'':<ref name="hrw report">{{cite web |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/10/11/nigeria-boko-haram-attacks-likely-crimes-against-humanity |title=Nigeria: Boko Haram Attacks Likely Crimes Against Humanity |publisher=Human Rights Watch |date=11 October 2012 |access-date=6 August 2014}}</ref>
{{blockquote|[S]erious [[Human rights in Nigeria|human rights problems]] included extrajudicial killings by security forces, including [[summary executions]]; security force torture, rape, and other cruel, [[inhuman, or degrading treatment]] of prisoners, detainees, and criminal suspects; harsh and life-threatening prison and detention center conditions; [[arbitrary arrest and detention]]; prolonged pretrial detention; denial of fair public trial; executive influence on the judiciary; infringements on citizens' privacy rights; restrictions on freedom of speech, press, assembly, religion, and movement.

On 9 October, witnesses in Maiduguri claimed members of the [[Joint Task Force|JTF]] "Restore Order" [<nowiki />a [[vigilante]] group], based in Maiduguri, went on a [[killing spree]] after a suspected Boko Haram bomb killed an officer. Media reported the JTF killed 20 to 45 civilians and razed 50 to 100 houses in the neighborhood. The JTF commander in Maiduguri denied the allegations. On 2 November, witnesses claimed the JTF shot and killed up to 40 people during raids in Maiduguri. The army claimed it dismissed some officers from the military as a result of alleged abuses committed in Maiduguri, but there were no known formal prosecutions in Maiduguri by year's end.

Credible reports also indicated&nbsp;... uniformed military personnel and [[paramilitary]] [[Nigerian Mobile Police|mobile police]] carried out summary executions, assaults, torture, and other abuses throughout Bauchi, Borno, [[Kano State|Kano]], [[Kaduna State|Kaduna]], [[Plateau State|Plateau]], and Yobe states&nbsp;... The national police, army, and other security forces committed [[extrajudicial killing]]s and used lethal and [[excessive force]] to apprehend criminals and suspects, as well as to disperse protesters. Authorities generally did not hold police accountable for the use of excessive or [[deadly force]] or for the deaths of persons [[Death in custody|in custody]]. Security forces generally operated with impunity in the illegal apprehension, detention, and sometimes [[Extrajudicial punishment|extrajudicial]] [[execution]] of criminal suspects. The reports of state or federal panels of inquiry investigating [[suspicious death]]s remained unpublished.

There were no new developments in the case of five police officers accused of executing Muhammad Yusuf in 2009 at a state police headquarters. In July 2011, authorities arraigned five police officers in the federal high court in Abuja for the [[murder]] of Yusuf. The court granted bail to four of the officers, while one remained in custody.

Police use of excessive force, including use of live ammunition, to disperse demonstrators resulted in numerous killings during the year. For example, although the January fuel subsidy demonstrations generally remained peaceful, security forces reportedly fired on protesters in various states across the country during those demonstrations, resulting in 10 to 15 deaths and an unknown number of wounded.

Despite some improvements resulting from the closure of police checkpoints in many parts of the country, states with an increased security presence due to the activities of Boko Haram experienced a rise in violence and lethal force at police and military [[roadblock]]s.

Continuing abductions of civilians by criminal groups occurred in the Niger Delta and [[Biafra|Southeast]]&nbsp;... Police and other security forces were often implicated in the kidnapping schemes.

Although the constitution and law prohibit such practices and provide for punishment of such abuses, torture is not criminalized, and security service personnel, including police, military, and State Security Service (SSS) officers, regularly tortured, beat, and abused demonstrators, criminal suspects, detainees, and convicted prisoners. Police [[mistreatment|mistreated]] civilians to extort money. The law prohibits the introduction into trials of evidence and confessions obtained through torture; however, police often used torture to [[Forced confession|extract confessions]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2012humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2012&dlid=204153#wrapper|title=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 2012|publisher=US Department of State|author=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor|date=2012|access-date=7 August 2014}}</ref>|sign=|source=}}