§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn. — [Mr. Neubert.]
10.16 pm§ Mr. Malcolm Bruce (Gordon)I am very grateful indeed to have the opportunity to raise on this Adjournment debate the plight of two of my constituents who have been detained in Nigeria since 20 May 1984. Although this matter has received some publicity, it has not been fully aired in this House. The time has come when a number of points of concern should be aired and the Government's view upon them expressed in public.
I shall give the background to the circumstances and express as strongly as I can how I feel about the plight of these two constituents and how their plight might affect relationships between our two countries — relationships which are longstanding and which I hope will continue in the future, despite the present difficulties. These two constituents have been detained for nine months in Nigeria. There is concern as to how they are being treated and when they may be able to return home. Their wives live in my constituency. Their children have not seen their fathers for nine months. The human dimension has reached the stage where additional pressure needs to be applied. I hope the Minister will be able to assure the House that the difficulties which have been experienced, particularly since Christmas, have not only been recounted to the Nigerians, but that they have been led to understand that they are now in danger of losing the goodwill of this country if the detention of my constituents continues.
There is concern as to whether there is a political factor involved in their detention. I hope that this is not so. Nevertheless, it causes me concern. May I therefore ask the Minister to make it clear to the House that the Government give very high priority indeed to ensuring that the process of law in Nigeria, which has had too many interruptions and hiccups, is brought to a quick and speedy conclusion and that any suggestion that my constituents should be subjected to any kind of political pressure is firmly rejected. Therefore, I suggest right at the beginning of my speech, because there is no point in beating about the bush, that the plight of my constituents must not be connected with the trials that have taken place in this country or with the detention in Britain of Nigerians and of Britons in Nigeria.
In particular, we have had in Britain the trial of those involved in the attempt to kidnap Mr. Dikko. It is important that the Government make it clear to the Nigerian Government that, regardless of how they feel about Mr. Dikko and his kind and the trial of the people involved in his kidnapping, people who are in no way connected with that should not be made to suffer for any kind of political reasons.
Britain should not be harbouring the likes of Mr. Dikko, and I should like to see the back of him and all his works from this country. I understand how the Nigerians feel about that. But I cannot stress too highly that people who have had no connection whatever with those circumstances — my constituents and their families — should not be made to suffer on that account. Indeed, they have already suffered too much.
The constituents in question are Mr. Angus Paterson, who lives in Inverurie, and Mr. Kenneth Clarke, who lives in Blackburn. Both those towns are in my constituency. 440 The two men were employed as helicopter engineers by Bristow Helicopters. They were operating under a contract, under which they worked in Nigeria for two months and then returned home to Scotland for two months, until they were arrested on 20 May 1984.
They were arrested after they had serviced an aircraft which immediately afterwards left Nigeria illegally. Since that date they have maintained their complete ignorance of the illegal intentions of the male pilot and his female co-pilot who left on that particular day. I understand that not only are the pilot and his co-pilot back in Britain, but that they have subsequently married and that their happiness in no way detracts from the fact that two innocent people remain detained in Nigeria.
Sheer common sense would suggest that anybody accused, as these men are, of conspiring to steal, and stealing, an aircraft, would not have stayed behind if that had been the reality of what they were doing.
Subsequently, Messrs Clarke and Paterson were detained for many months at police headquarters in Lagos before any charges were brought. They first appeared in court on 12 November, having been originally arrested on 20 May. On that date they were remanded until 23 November and they appeared in court again on 5 December, when bail was refused despite a number of sworn affidavits.
The trial then resumed on 14 December and was adjourned on 21 December, just before Christmas, until 18 January. On 18 January the prosecution withdrew the original charge and the men were released but were immediately rearrested.
After a further delay in which they and their families suffered considerable doubt, uncertainty and depression those charges to which I have already referred were laid—conspiring to steal an aircraft and stealing an aircraft. On 12 February a new trial date was set for 19 March.
Immediately after that, on 15 February, the men were transferred to Kirri Kirri prison, a maximum security prison, where they are now. The first consular visit to them in that prison, I understood, took place today, although I have since clarified that and I understand that a brief visit took place some days ago.
I am sure that we can all appreciate that no maximum security prison is a pleasant place to be. I understand that they are not in comfortable conditions compared to those in which they had been confined hitherto.
Let me at this point pay tribute—I am sure on behalf of the two men—first to the consular officials who, up until the point that they were transferred to Kirri Kirri prison, visited them regularly and gave them practical and, perhaps more importantly, moral support and regular contact. I know that they have continued to work hard to do that.
I also pay tribute to their fellow employees and their company Bristow Helicopters who have supported them throughout and have also ensured that they have had regular visits and practical support. In circumstances where they are faced with so much uncertainty and emotional pressure, such factors cannot be measured, but they are extremely important. I know that my constituents will want their gratitude to be expressed to the people who have visited the men.
I remain concerned about the conditions in which they are detained. I understand that a number of other British prisoners are also detained in that prison in conditions which are extremely unsatisfactory.
§ Mr. Simon Hughes (Southwark and Bermondsey)May I add, in similar terms to the way in which my hon. Friend is making his case on behalf of his constituents, the name of a man whose family are my constituents and whose last base in Britain was in Bermondsey. I refer to Ronald Goslitski, whose case has been taken up with the Foreign Office.
Again there is a charge pending. The man was arrested and has been held in Benin prison in Nigeria since June of last year. The same concern is expressed on behalf of his family that his time there is uncertain and that perhaps justice is not being done as quickly as it might be done. There needs to be a speedy resolution, divorced from all political overtones.
I shall be grateful if my hon. Friend will accept that that concern should be added to the concern that he is expressing and be taken up appropriately by the Foreign Office.
§ Mr. BruceI accept my hon. Friend's plea on behalf of his constituent. Naturally, these circumstances cause concern, but I must make it clear that I also recognise that a judicial process is in hand and that a trial date has been set.
I hope that the value of having a debate in advance of the trial is to make it clear that I and the families of the two men have forborne to make public play of their plight until now because we were anxious to ensure that the judicial process followed its proper course. However, the conditions that have arisen over the last three months, with hiccups over their trial, over the charges and so forth, have given cause for concern, as has their transfer to a maximum security prison. The stage has been reached where I am anxious to make it clear through the Minister and direct to the Nigerian Government that if the matter is not resolved speedily and efficiently on 19 March, Britain's relationship with and public opinion in Britain about the Nigerian judicial process will come into question. I hope that the Nigerian authorities would not want that to happen.
An additional matter of concern is that since the men were transferred to the maximum security prison they have been detained under section 2 of the Military Government Order, which I understand is known as the Decree 2 State Security (Detention of Persons). It could mean that, regardless of the outcome of any trial, they are detained indefinitely. I hope that the Government will press with all the authority at their disposal that these men should not be detained in any other way than that related to the specific circumstances of the charges which have been made.
The Nigerian judicial system is modelled on Britain's. It is important in those circumstances that that should mean that the men now get a quick, fair trial with no further delays or hiccups on 19 March and the subsequent days.
It is important to make it clear that British public opinion expects that after that, regardless of the outcome, the men will be returned home and reunited with their wives and families. I pay my tribute to their wives and families, who have been put in very difficult circumstances. The men's wives are very capable and intelligent women, who have borne what they have had to bear in the last nine months bravely and well. However, the uncertainties of the last three months have put 442 considerable pressure on them. If the matter is not resolved speedily, that pressure will begin to bear in an extremely serious way.
It is not necessary for me to point out that the consequences of the delay mean that these fathers of young families have been denied any contact with their children over virtually a full year of Christmas, birthdays, and the usual family festivities. In common humanity, the authorities should recognise that, especially if they think about applying political pressure.
I hope that the Minister can give an assurance tonight that the Government will impress on the Nigerian authorities that, important as the restoration of good relations between Great Britain and Nigeria is, they do not allow the manipulation of the judicial system for political ends. I suggest that that has not yet happened, but if it does, the Government should make it clear that it is intolerable and that commerce is of no value if our citizens are abused by the citizens of any other country. We must make it clear that our relations with another country depend on the fair, honest and objective treatment of our citizens.
The Minister should make it clear to the Nigerian authorities that whether the men are convicted or acquitted at their trial on 19 March, they and their families have suffered too long and are entitled to expect speedy, efficient and fair treatment and to return home to be reunited with their families.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (Mr. Tim Renton)I fully understand the reasons that led the hon. Member for Gordon (Mr. Bruce) to raise the matter of his two constituents, who are engineers and detained in Nigeria, in this Adjournment debate. I pay tribute to the determination with which he has been protecting the interests of his constituents during the past months and the time of their detention. It would also be appropriate to pay tribute to other hon. Members who have taken an interest in the case, especially my hon. Friend the Member for Argyll and Bute (Mr. MacKay), who has corresponded with my hon. Friend the Member for Edinburgh, Pentlands (Mr. Rifkind). The hon. Member for Southwark and Bermondsey (Mr. Hughes) also briefly raised the question of his constituent, Mr. Goslitski.
I understand that Mr. Goslitski has been detained since June 1984 in Benin city prison accused of corruption. There have been regular consular visits to him, but it is rather difficult because of the distance, and access has sometimes been refused. We are, however, affording him all the usual consular protection. If the hon. Gentleman wishes to write to me further about Mr. Goslitski, I shall certainly give him the most up-to-date information that I have.
The protection of the rights of British citizens, as the hon. Member for Gordon will accept, who run into difficulties abroad is a primary function of our diplomatic missions. The detention of a British citizen in a foreign land naturally raises a great deal of public and parliamentary anxiety when the period of detention without trial is prolonged or the conditions of detention are unsatisfactory. His two constituents, Mr. Kenneth Clarke and Mr. Angus Paterson, who are employed by Bristow Helicopters in Nigeria, have been held in Lagos since 19 May 1984.
443 The Government share the growing anxiety at the delay in bringing their case to a conclusion — which, understandably, is causing great distress to their families. I fully understand the strength of the hon. Gentleman's remarks about the position of the wives and close members of the families. Their distress has been heightened by the recent uncertainty surrounding the case. I assure the hon. Gentleman that we have made our concern abundantly clear to the Nigerian authorities on numerous occasions and at the highest level.
Most recently, my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State made that clear when he saw the Nigerian acting high commissioner in London on 24 January. There has been intense diplomatic effort in London and Lagos to secure progress in the case. I know that the Nigerian authorities are also aware of the level of public anxiety about the matter, not least from the letters of relatives and friends, which the Nigerian acting high commissioner has told us he has received.
I fully understand and sympathise with the feelings of the two families and nothing that I can say today will alter the anguish and frustration that inevitably results from such prolonged and enforced separation. I want them to know, however — perhaps the hon. Member for Gordon will pass this on—that the Government will continue to do all that we can to see that the case is brought to a speedy and satisfactory conclusion and that in the meantime the conditions in which the two men are held are the best that we can achieve.
As the hon. Gentleman recognised, we now have a firm date — 19 March — for the commencement of the trial. This was confirmed to our high commission in Lagos on 12 February after representations had been made to a senior judge in the Ikeja judicial division to which the case was transferred in January. The high commission also obtained confirmation that the men would face two charges—conspiracy to steal an aircraft, and stealing the aircraft.
Clearly, it is not for us to comment directly on the charges themselves any more than we should expect any other Government to question proceedings in our courts. Conscious as I am of the anguish of the men's wives and children, however, I sincerely hope that the trial will result in a speedy and fair end to this most unfortunate episode. I repeat that the Government will do all that we can to achieve that end.
The hon. Gentleman raised the question of what he described as political pressure and specifically a possible link with the request for the extradition of Mr. Dikko from this country. I must tell the hon. Gentleman that there is no evidence to suggest that the delays in this case are in any way linked with recent developments concerning Mr. Dikko's status in the United Kingdom or the trial of his abductors, and I entirely agree that any such link would be utterly unacceptable to the Government and people of this country. I am sure that the Nigerian authorities realise and accept that.
I believe that the delays in this case are the result of the pace at which the judicial system moves rather than anything more sinister. In all fairness, we must concede that we have similar problems in the United Kingdom at times. The conduct of the forthcoming trial will, I hope, vindicate that opinion. An official from our high commission will, of course, be in court to observe the proceedings.
444 As the hon. Gentleman said, this case has a somewhat unusual history. The two men were arrested on 19 May 1984 and eventually brought to court on 23 November on a charge of conspiracy to steal an aircraft. Five court appearances followed, at the last of which, on 18 January, the prosecution withdrew the charges and the men were released, only to be rearrested as they left the court. That development naturally caused great concern and representations were made at once to the Attorney-General's office in Lagos, but I am informed that such a development, although uncommon, is not in conflict with Nigerian law. As I have said, the date for the new trial has now been set and we must await the outcome.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office has maintained close contact throughout the period with the two men's families, with their company, Bristow Helicopters, and with the hon. Member for Gordon. I greatly appreciate the hon. Gentleman's tribute to our consular officials in Lagos. As he knows, the consular section of our high commission in Lagos has provided regular visits to Mr. Clarke and Mr. Paterson and has been very active in trying to ensure that in all the circumstances they have been detained in as good conditions as possible.
It is true that the men were transferred to Kirri Kirri prison in Lagos on 15 February from a more favourable regime and that detention at Kirri Kirri was authorised under decree No. 2. The high commission has obtained an assurance from the Attorney-General that the men's trial will in any case proceed as planned, on 19 March, and we have no reason to believe that that will not resolve matters once and for all.
I am informed that the men are physically well and that their morale is as high as can be expected. A high commission officer was able to visit them on 20 February and again yesterday, 26 February. We have also been able to obtain today authority for regular visits every Tuesday and Friday by a representative of the high commission and the engineers' lawyers.
The hon. Gentleman touched on our trade relations with Nigeria and questioned the relationship between those trade relations and the position of these two men. Our trade relations are close, but I would not for one moment say that we are favouring those relations in any sense at the expense of these two men or at the expense of our determination to do all that we can to see that their trial is brought forward as speedily as possible.
Britain's relations with Nigeria, a respected and senior fellow member of the Commonwealth family of nations, are long-standing and deep. The links, not least in our legal traditions and the sense of justice and fair play which unite our two countries, remain as strong and vigorous as ever. We will do everything possible to maintain and foster that close relationship.
It is important that the Nigerian authorities should be well aware of the concern of people in this country about the Bristow engineers, and this debate will serve to underline that concern.
As so often, much of our effort must, if it is to be successful, take place out of the public gaze, but I hope that what I have said tonight will reassure the hon. Gentleman that the Government have done and are doing everything they can to ensure that this unhappy matter is now brought to the speediest possible conclusion.
§ Mr. Ivor Stanbrook (Orpington)My hon. Friend referred to the position of Mr. Dikko. Does he consider 445 that this might be a good opportunity for him to say whether a request has been received from Nigeria for his extradition and, if so, what the response will be?
§ Mr. RentonIt would not be appropriate for me to go into that on this occasion. We are very concerned about 446 the position of these two men and this debate is about them. If my hon. Friend will write or speak to me about the position of Mr. Dikko, I will gladly communicate with him.
Question put and agreed to.
Adjourned accordingly at seventeen minutes to Eleven o' clock.