339 REPATRIATED DRUG CONVICTS SEEK PARDON

Three hundred and thirty-nine Nigerians repatriated from Thailand
jails last year by the Federal Government and clamped into jail in the
country after serving various jail terms for drug related offences in
that Asia country have appealed to President Olus-egun Obasanjo to
release them on compassionate ground.

The prisoners, who have been held in Ilesa, Umuahia, Aba, Kuje and
Minna prisons, were jailed in Thailand for drug related offences and
were serving prison sentences ranging from 25 years to life
imprisonment before they were brought to Nigeria.

In their petition addressed to President Obasanjo and made available
to City Diary, they claimed that 47 of them had died in Thailand
prisons before 1989 and 2003, before they were brought to the country
last year.

According to them, they had thought that their sentences would be
reviewed in line with the Nigeria legal system, which stipulated 15
years for drug related offences, but were surprised that they have
remained in prison without any hope of re-gaining their freedom in the
nearest future.

"We want to appeal to the federal government to finish the good work
they started by expediting action in bringing an end to our
predicament," they pleaded.

"By all standard, we have suffered enough as we went through a lot of
physical and mental abuse in Thailand from the hands of both judicial
and prison authorities due to language barrier, ignorance and prejudice.

"For over a year now, we have been undergoing mental torture and agony
from the constant news of the loss of our parents and loved ones even
after we have arrived in the country," they added.

The repatriated prisoners lamented that most of them at present have
either gone beyond, or were fast approaching the middle age barrier
without having the opportunity of getting married, adding that the
financial and moral support they enjoy from friends and relations have
waned over the years.

According to them, nationals of other countries like America, and
Spain, among others rescued from the same Thailand prisons by their
home governments have since been set free after going through the
legal process of converting their sentences to more humane punishments
in their various countries.

Having variously spent between 10 and 15 years in Thailand prisons
before they were repatriated , the prisoners said, they thought they
would have by now re-gained their freedoms, adding that they had
earlier signed consent forms and indicated their willingness to be
subjected to the Nigerian judicial system.

"Many of us came back home with medical records that call for urgent
humanitarian considerations. In addition, we have among us those who
are aged," the drug convicts claimed.