Their original anger, frustration and bitterness have crystallised into melancholy. Apparently helpless, dejected and depressed, they are crying for justice. They are friends and relatives of Nigerians who are languishing in various prisons in far-away China, for offences ranging from illegal entry and expired travel documents to drug trafficking. There are also cases of Nigerian inmates who did not know why they were arrested. They just found themselves in the prisons.
Ever since Sunday Sun in its issue of December 25, 2011, reported that over 1000 Nigerians were languishing in China prisons, the families of the inmates have been making frantic efforts through several civil and government agencies to secure the freedom of their loved ones, many of whom are allegedly there on trumped up charges. However, the matter took a new turn on January 1, 2013, when at about 1am, a Nigerian prisoner who identified himself simply as Paul, cried out from Beijing Prisons in China to Sunday Sun, to help tell the world that they were grappling with the worst kind of treatment prisoners could face anywhere in the world. Again at about 3am on January 16, 2013, Paul screamed again that they were dying.
“Please, my brother, we are dying. We are over 700 Nigerians in various prisons here. Our health condition is very terrible. If you are sick, nobody takes you to the hospital. The kind of food they serve us here is better not tasted. It is tasteless. In fact, I lack the proper word to describe the kind of food they serve us. We spend heavily on our feeding from the money our families in Nigeria send to us. It is really bad and I hope you understand what I mean when I say it is bad. What is bad is bad and it is bad,” Paul said in subdued tone.
On what he wants done for them, he said: “We want our president, Goodluck Jonathan to hear our cry and come to our aid. There is a new policy here in China that empowers other countries to come and take their citizens back to their countries for prosecution. We call on Nigerian government to take advantage of that law and rescue us from this hell called prison.
“We would gladly like to face prosecution back home if they say we committed any offence because here, we are not prosecuted. They just dumped us in the cell, even when most of us did not do anything to warrant being here. We appeal to the President and all Nigerians to remember that their kith and kin, most of who are innocent, are languishing in China and they should do something to save our lives.”
Corroborating Paul’s tale of woes, another jailed Nigerian who identified himself as Ayowale, said he was released on Tuesday last week, and returned to Nigeria on Wednesday, January 23. He said he went to China in 2004 and had been doing business in that country until he was arrested on February 22, 2006 on charges of credit card fraud. He told Sunday Sun that although he told the Chinese authorities that he was innocent because he was engaged in buying shoes and baby clothes and sending same to his people in Nigeria who usually remit the money to him after sales, he was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment on March 10, 2007.
“I was a businessman based in China and my business was buying shoes and babywear and sending them back home after which the money is remitted to me for more purchases. Sometimes, I would even go to Thailand and Malaysia to buy products that I would send home for sale. That was my business until I was arrested and charged with credit card fraud. “It is better not to go to court because they will provide a lawyer who will do the government’s bidding. Whatever you tell your lawyer will be used against you in the court of law. And you can’t get a lawyer of your own except the one provided for you by the government,” he said.
The man who served in Beijing prisons number two, where, it was gathered, over 70 Nigerians are languishing, said life in jail was terrible. He said they worked until recently when the authorities introduced the work system.
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