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| Nigeria has been hit by an Islamist insurgency in the north-east since 2009(Image: Getty Images) |
Following massive trials, nearly 400 individuals in Nigeria have been sentenced for links to militant Islamic groups. The convicts were given sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment after linked to Boko Haram or a rival splinter group, the Islamic State West Africa Province (Iswap).
The trials came at a time when the government is under intense pressure to curb rising insecurity in Africa's most-populous state. Security forces are battling multiple armed groups, from militant Islamists to separatists, and kidnapping-for-ransom gangs.
Aid organizations claim that more than two million people were displaced and tens of thousands of people were killed when Boko Haram launched an insurgency in the north-east in 2009. On Wednesday, the US urged its citizens to reconsider travelling to the country because of the deteriorating security situation.
READ MORE: US warns citizens to reconsider Nigeria travel on safety grounds
More than 500 suspects were put on trial in the federal high court in the capital, Abuja, on charges of either taking part in attacks or supporting the militants through funding, supplying arms, or giving logistical support.
On Friday, judges convicted 386 of them, while two were acquitted, eight were discharged, and the cases of 112 suspects were adjourned, officials said.
At the beginning of the trials, five of the accused had pleaded guilty to charges of selling livestock and providing militant groups with food and information. After President Donald Trump claimed that Christians were being persecuted in Nigeria, the United States launched airstrikes on Christmas Day in northern Sokoto state to target the militant Islamist group Lakurawa. Trump's claim was refuted by the government, which claimed that people of all faiths and none were the targets of violence.
Source: BBC
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