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A court has allowed two Nigerians who were tortured and mutilated in Sierra Leone to challenge Nigeria's decision to grant asylum to former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is accused of backing the torturers.
Abuja - A court has allowed two Nigerians who were tortured and mutilated in Sierra Leone to challenge Nigeria's decision to grant asylum to former Liberian president Charles Taylor, who is accused of backing the torturers.
Rejecting an objection by the government, the Nigerian Federal High Court said the men were entitled to try to bring Taylor to justice because of the suffering they endured.
"These applicants have their hands mutilated ... They have suffered personal injuries and it is of greater interest to them that justice be done," Judge Stephen Jonah Adah told a hearing on Tuesday.
"They have a genuine interest in this case and they have a legal right to pursue it," he said, according to a transcript obtained on Wednesday.
David Anyaele and Emmanuel Egbuna say they were attacked by rebels backed by Taylor in the Sierra Leone capital Freetown in 1999. The rebels hacked off Anyaele's arms and set him on fire, and mutilated Egbuna's wrists.
A lawyer representing the two said they were not seeking financial damages but wanted to see Taylor face trial. The men brought their case over a year ago but it has made slow progress through the Nigerian legal system.
Nigeria granted asylum to Taylor in 2003 to get him out of Liberia and help end a war there that killed 250 000 people, but it has since come under pressure to hand him over to Sierra Leone's United Nations-backed war crimes court.
The Sierra Leone court has indicted him for crimes against humanity, accusing him of supporting rebels who chopped off the limbs of civilians, conducted mass rapes and recruited child soldiers to dominate the country's diamond-producing areas.
Nigeria says it will only turn Taylor over if asked by an elected Liberian government and will not transfer him to a third country. A call for his extradition from Liberia looks unlikely as he still instills fear there and his return could destabilise the country's fragile peace process.
The Nigerian plaintiffs argue that their government should not have granted Taylor asylum under African Union and Geneva Convention guidelines, which prohibit asylum to war criminals.
Judge Adah set December 6 for the court to start hearing the substance of the case. But government lawyers have signalled their intention to appeal against Adah's ruling, which could further delay proceedings.