(Reuters) – Nigeria charged two German men on Wednesday with breaching its Official Secrets Act and endangering national security by taking photographs and video footage of oil facilities in the Niger Delta.
An American woman based in the delta and a Nigerian man were also charged with violating the secrets act for helping the Germans, and with advising them to make false declarations to get visas.
“Florian Alexander Orpitz, 35 … and Andy Lehmann, 26 … did for a purpose prejudicial to the security of Nigeria take photographs and video shots of pipelines, refineries, petroleum installations, ships,” said one of the charges against the Germans.
Nigeria’s director of public prosecutions, Salihu Aliyu, told reporters after the Germans were arraigned that they faced a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.
Judge Binta Murtala-Nyako adjourned the case until Friday and ordered that the suspects be held in the custody of the State Security Services (SSS), a secret police force.
German embassy officials could not immediately be reached. Contacted last Friday, the embassy spokeswoman described the men as journalists and denied reports in Nigerian newspapers that they were accused of espionage.
The word “espionage” was not mentioned in the formal charges filed before a federal high court in Abuja on Wednesday. The charges did not make clear what was meant by “a purpose prejudicial to the security of Nigeria”.
SENSITIVITY
The Niger Delta, where Nigeria’s oil industry is based, has become a magnet for foreign journalists since armed rebels demanding local control over oil revenues launched a wave of attacks in early 2006 that cut production by about a quarter.
Over time, the violence escalated into an uncontrollable wave of abductions for ransom, raids on oil facilities, gang clashes and armed robberies.
Dozens of foreign journalists have covered developments in the anarchic wetlands region, mostly undisturbed by the authorities, and images of Nigerian oil installations have appeared in numerous mainstream foreign media.
However, the government has shown sensitivity to foreign coverage of the delta on two previous occasions since the current round of violence began.
A U.S. freelance photographer was detained for three days in June 2006 for taking shots of an oil facility in the delta.
In February this year, the government cancelled an advert it had placed on U.S. television channel CNN because of the network’s report on delta militants holding hostages. The then information minister accused CNN of stage-managing the report. CNN denied this.
The American woman facing charges alongside the Germans, Judith Asuni, has been based in the Niger Delta for many years.
Asuni, 60, runs a non-governmental organisation called Academic Associates Peace Works that has received funding from the official U.S. aid agency, USAID, in the past.
Nigeria’s record on press freedom is much better than that of many African countries and many journalists freely criticise the government. However, there are occasional incidents of journalists being detained and the SSS has been named a “predator of press freedom” by Reporters Without Borders.