Interference With Twitter Violates Human Rights – ECOWAS Court Rules
The ECOWAS Court sitting in Abuja on Tuesday ruled that any interference with Twitter is viewed as inference with human rights, and that will violate human rights.
The Court therefore stopped the Nigerian Government from sanctioning or prosecuting Twitter users.
The sub-regional Court ruling, followed a suit filed against the government by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) and 176 others over the ban of the microblogging social media-Twitter in which they asked the Court to rule against the decision of the Federal Government which they said violate their rights to express themselves.
The ECOWAS Court in a ruling in Abuja on Tuesday specifically restrained the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and its agents from unlawfully imposing sanctions or doing anything whatsoever to harass, intimidate, arrest or prosecute Twitter and/or any other social media service provider(s), media houses, radio and television broadcast stations, the plaintiffs and other Nigerians who are Twitter users, pending the hearing and determination of this suit.
SERAP and 176 concerned Nigerians had filed a suit against the Federal Government, arguing that “the unlawful suspension of Twitter in Nigeria, criminalization of Nigerians and other people using Twitter have escalated repression of human rights and unlawfully restricted the rights of Nigerians and other people to freedom of expression, access to information, and media freedom in the country.
The court gave the order after hearing arguments from the Solicitor to SERAP, Femi Falana SAN, and the lawyer to the Federal Government, Mr Maimuna Shiru.
Therefore, this court has jurisdiction to hear the case. The court also hereby orders that the application be heard expeditiously.
