Call for Delta rebel to be tried

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua on Tuesday denied claims that Henry Okah died in police custody.

Lawyers, family members and doctors should be allowed to see him, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) has said.

Mr Okah was extradited from Angola last week on gun-running charges, but he has not appeared in court yet.

Lawyer Femi Falana says he had been hired by Mend to represent Mr Okah.

On Thursday he filed papers demanding that the government to produce him in a federal high court, but no date has yet been set for his application to be considered.

Mend had sent an e-mail to reporters saying he was shot "accidentally" during interrogation.

HENRY OKAH

• Ethnic Ijaw from Amassoma, Bayelsa state
• Belongs to powerful Ogboin family clan
• Same clan as convicted Bayelsa governor DSP Alamieyeseigha
• Lives in South Africa with wife and children
• Arrested by Angolan police in September
• Extradited to Nigeria 14 February

But the president's spokesman said Mr Okah was "in safe custody"

After the government denied the report, Mend sent a follow-up email to journalists.

"The government must go a step further, (give) access to his legal representatives, family, pastor and the International Red Cross or similar body for an independent verification that he is alive and has never been tortured," the email said.

Presidential spokesman Segun Adeniyi refused to comment on the new demand.

Mr Okah is a founder member of Mend, which carried out attacks in the Delta two years ago that cut Nigerian oil production by a quarter.

Since then the group has factionalised and some leaders have halted attacks after striking deals with the government, although Mr Okah's faction has remained active.