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From Stanley Uzoaru, Owerri
The Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) on Friday, accused the British Government of applying international law selectively, saying the UK condemned Israeli settlement activity in Jerusalem while ignoring a United Nations ruling on the detention of its leader, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu.
In a press statement signed by IPOB Spokesperson, Comrade Emma Powerful, the group said it noted recent comments by the British Foreign Secretary, Edward Miliband, on real estate development in Jerusalem.
“While we stand unequivocally with Israel and recognise Jerusalem as its eternal and undivided capital, we are compelled to expose the rotting hypocrisy of His Majesty’s Government,” the statement read.
IPOB referenced a determination by the United Nations Human Rights Council, acting under the UN General Assembly, regarding Kanu’s 2021 arrest and transfer from Kenya to Nigeria.
According to the statement, the UN body declared that Kanu was subjected to “torture and extraordinary rendition” and called for his “immediate release and payment of compensation.” IPOB said the findings came from “the highest international human rights bodies,” not from the group itself.
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Kanu, who leads IPOB, has been in Nigerian custody since June 2021. IPOB is seeking an independent state for the Igbo people in south-eastern Nigeria.
The group alleged that Britain assisted Nigeria in defying international law in Kanu’s case.
“The same Britain now lecturing Israel about ‘international law’ turned a blind eye to the torture of a British citizen,” Powerful stated.
IPOB also criticised the Foreign Secretary’s statement on Jerusalem as “entirely one-sided,” arguing it condemned Israeli construction while “ignoring Palestinian terrorism, incitement, and the Palestinian Authority’s ‘pay for slay’ policy.”
On the Israeli-Palestinian issue, IPOB said: “The Jewish people have the right to live throughout the historic and Biblical land of Israel. Jerusalem is Israel, and Israel is Jerusalem.” The group cited the 1917 Balfour Declaration and said Britain “has no right to lecture the Jewish people about where they may live in their tiny historic homeland” while maintaining overseas territories.
