Amnesty International (AI) on Friday urged Department of State Services (DSS) to immediately withdraw its defamation lawsuit against the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP).
Amnesty International had last month condemned the intimidation and harassment of SERAP by the DSS as part of the growing trend by the government of President Bola Tinubu to stifle dissenting voices in the country.
The action by the DSS, AI said, poses significant threats to the rights of activists to freedom of expression, assembly, and association.
It added that it also illustrates the ongoing attempts by Nigerian authorities to silence activists and journalists and crack down on Nigerians’ rights to freedom of expression and association.
AI, in a statement by its Media and Communications Assistant, Michael Christian, noted that the lawsuit by the DSS was a clear example of authorities abusing the legal system in order to censor, intimidate, and silence legitimate human rights and anti-corruption work.
It said: “Human rights defenders, activists, and journalists must be allowed to freely carry out their legitimate work.
“This abuse of legal strategy by the Tinubu administration to muzzle activists and journalists and undermine their work must stop.
“Nigerian authorities must uphold their constitutional and international human rights obligations, including those under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Nigeria is a state party.”