In brief
Following mass trials aimed at addressing rising insecurity, nearly 400 people in Nigeria have been sentenced for their affiliations with militant groups such as Boko Haram and Iswap. Convicted individuals received sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment in a response to the growing threat posed by insurgent activities in the country. The Nigerian government continues to face pressure to ensure safety in the region as it grapples with multiple armed groups and escalating violence.
Nearly 400 people have been sentenced in Nigeria for links with militant Islamic groups following mass trials.
The convicts were given sentences ranging from five years to life imprisonment after being 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.
Boko Haram launched an insurgency in the north-east in 2009, killing tens of thousands of people and displacing more than two million, according to aid groups.
On Wednesday, the US urged its citizens to reconsider traveling to Nigeria due to the deteriorating security situation.
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.
Five of the accused had pleaded guilty at the start of the trials to charges that included selling livestock, supplying food, and providing information to the militant groups.
In a related note, the US carried out airstrikes in northern Sokoto state on Christmas Day to target a militant Islamist group known as Lakurawa after former President Donald Trump alleged that Christians were being persecuted in Nigeria. The Nigerian government denied Trump's claim, stating that people of all faiths and those without faith were victims of violence.
