Eighteen persons including nationals of Nigeria, Chad and Egypt have been executed after being convicted of premeditated murder, a Libyan newspaper, Cerene, has reported. The number of Nigerians killed in the executions done last Sunday has not been ascertained.Of the 18, 14 were executed in the capital, Tripoli, Cerene reported, while the four other executions were carried out in Benghazi, Libya’s second largest city. Their identities have not been made public by Libyan authorities. More than 200 people are currently on death row in Libya, the Cerene report said. They are believed to include a large number of foreign nationals against whom the death penalty appears to be used disproportionately.They are also often allegedly not provided with interpretation or translation assistance during legal proceedings, which are conducted in Arabic, or given access to their own government’s consular representatives. A Nigerian on death row in Libya, Lawrence Ero, also confirmed the execution to THISDAY by telephone, expressing hope that the Nigerian Consulate in Libya would come and intervene in his case and those of others still on death row. Reacting to the execution, Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Diaspora Affairs, Hon Abike Dabiri-Erewa, accused the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of not doing enough since it was made to be aware of the plight of some Nigerians in Libya last year. “It is time we take up Libya on issues of execution because most of those offenders were killed simply because they could not understand the charges being read in Arabic,” she said lamenting that there is a penchant for killing blacks in the country. Dabiri-Erewa also wants the country to appoint a charge d’Affairs to replace the ambassador recalled because of the statement made by the country’s leader Muamar Ghadaffi that Nigeria should be split along religious lines. “No country watches its citizens being killed in another nation without intervening,” she said. Meanwhile, the Amnesty International has maintained that it is opposed to death penalty in all cases, describing it as the ultimate form of cruel and inhuman punishment and a violation of the right to life. Amnesty International’s Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Malcolm Smart, said: “In the case of Libya , we fear that death sentences are handed down after proceedings, which fail to satisfy international standards for fair trial.” “Last Sunday’s dreadful events should not be repeated. The authorities should reveal the identities of the 18 people who were executed and vow to desist from further executions.” Smart said. Amnesty International pointed out that foreign nationals are at a disadvantage compared to Libyans in seeking commutation of their death sentences because they generally have limited financial means and lack a family network in Libya that can assist them by negotiating with the family of their alleged victim. “In cases of qisas (retribution for murder) and diya (financial compensation or blood money), the murder victim’s next-of-kin may agree to pardon the person convicted and under sentence of death in return for financial compensation.” Amnesty International explained. It lamented that to date, the Libyan government has resisted moves towards the abolition of the death penalty recalling that in December 2007 and 2008, Libya was among the minority of states that voted against successful United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolutions calling for a worldwide moratorium on executions. “The Libyan authorities must declare a moratorium on executions and join the international trend towards abolition of the death penalty,” Smart said. “They should also commute the sentences of all those on death row.” Amnesty International urged the authorities to ensure that the most rigorous internationally-recognized standards for fair trial are respected, particularly in death penalty cases. “It is unconscionable that people may still be sentenced to death and executed in Libya after trials which fail to meet the highest international standards,” Smart said. By Paul Ohia with agency reports Thisdayonline.com