 NIGERIAN DETAINEE RELEASED BY INS AFTER FOUR YEARS
Last week Oluwole Aboyade, a citizen of Nigeria, was finally released from four years of INS detention after an immigration judge granted him relief under the United Nations Convention Against Torture. During his four years of detention in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Aboyade became well known as a critic of the detention system in general and conditions at the New Jersey facility in particular. In 1998, he helped lead a hunger strike among detainees, and in 1999 he claimed that he and another detainee were beaten after complaining about conditions. INS investigations showed many of Aboyade’s claims to be accurate, and the chief of the security at the facility was transferred and other personnel were reassigned.
The relief granted under the Convention Against Torture is different from asylum, both in the grounds of eligibility and the form of relief itself. Asylum is permanent, while under the Convention, if conditions in the country at issue improve to the point where torture is no longer likely to occur, the right to remain in the US can be revoked.
For this reason, Aboyade’s attorneys hope to reopen his asylum case. They say that he has a very strong case for asylum, with evidence of persecution because of his family’s opposition to the military. According to the attorneys, the reason his first application was denied was because of inadequate legal representation. During the Convention Against Torture application, a psychologist testified that Aboyade exhibited characteristics consistent with a person who has been tortured, which can, in some cases, be a basis for asylum. An expert in international relations testified that Aboyade would most likely face political persecution in Nigeria because of his continuing opposition to the military dictatorship controlling the country.
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