Lagos, Nigeria
Abusive police: A Nigerian court has begun hearing testimony from people tortured by police officers with the notorious Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), which was disbanded earlier this month after widespread protests. The eightperson Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution will investigate offenses by SARS as well as last week’s crackdown on an #EndSARS protest in Lagos, in which security forces killed at least 12 people. Protesters said SARS had become a gang that extorted money from people and tortured those who refused to pay. The first victim to testify, Okoye Agu, said that in 2012 SARS officers stole his car and cellphone and held him for 47 days, beating him and even pulling out two of his teeth. When his wife and mother came to the police station looking for him, they, too, were beaten in front of him.