Key facts
- Four men were sentenced to death by hanging for the 2022 Owo Catholic church attack.
- The attack killed dozens of people.
- The convicted men were found guilty of charges including hostage-taking, kidnapping, terrorism financing, and detonation of explosives.
- A fifth defendant was acquitted due to insufficient evidence.
- The convicted men allegedly joined the East African militant group al Shabaab in 2021.
A Nigerian court has sentenced four men to death by hanging after convicting them over a 2022 attack on a Catholic church in Owo, Ondo state, that killed dozens. Justice Emeka Nwite handed down the sentences after finding the defendants guilty on a nine-count charge including hostage-taking, kidnapping, terrorism financing, and the detonation of explosives causing death and injury. The four men – Idris Abdulmalik Omeiza, Al Qasim Idris, Jamiu Abdulmalik, and Abdulhaleem Idris – were convicted on multiple counts, while a fifth defendant was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. The men had pleaded not guilty at the start of the trial. In addition to the death sentences, the four were also given symbolic sentences of life imprisonment for belonging to a terrorist organisation and 20 years each for conspiracy. According to court filings, the men allegedly joined the East African militant group al Shabaab in 2021 and plotted attacks at other locations, including a public school in central Nigeria and an area near a mosque about 30 km from Owo. Al Shabaab did not claim responsibility for the June 2022 church attack, and its operational presence in Nigeria remains unverified. Authorities initially blamed Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), which alongside Boko Haram has waged a prolonged insurgency in Nigeria's northeast, though neither group claimed responsibility for the assault.