LAGOS, Nigeria – A federal judge in Nigeria on Monday sentenced to death the feared right-hand man to Nigeria’s former military dictator over the 1996 killing of an opposition candidate’s wife.

Maj. Hamza Al-Mustapha sat without expression, slowly shaking his head “no,” as the high court judge ordered him to be hanged over the killing of Kudirat Abiola. His coconspirator Lateef Shofolahan received the same sentence after the two men were found guilty of murder and conspiracy charges. Shofolahan was described by the court as a trusted employee of the Abiola family who ultimately betrayed them for money and power.

Al-Mustapha was found guilty of ordering a security agent to kill the wife of Moshood Abiola, a businessman widely believed to be the winner of an annulled 1993 presidential poll in Nigeria. Al-Mustapha denied taking part in the 1996 machine-gun killing in Lagos, saying he was tortured into a false confession.

Al-Mustapha served as the chief security officer to Gen. Sani Abacha, a paranoid military ruler who stole billions from the oil-rich nation while brutally suppressing dissent.

Abiola was imprisoned by the dictator at the time of his wife’s death, and died in prison a month after Gen. Abacha’s own death as the nation struggled toward democracy.

Judge Mojisola Dada, though speaking in a hushed tone over the several hours it took to read her judgment Monday in the stifling hot courtroom, barely controlled her rage over the killings. Dada described Al-Mustapha as a “venomous beast” and Shofolahan as a Judas who “sold his master for 30 pieces of silver.”

“I think it is amazing that those who are most willing to shed the blood of others are the ones always scared of death,” Dada said when handing down the sentence.

Lead defense lawyer Olalekan Ojo said both men would appeal their sentences and file for stays of execution. He also suggested the judge showed bias by ignoring the contradictions in the prosecution’s case.

The daughter of the two slain democratic activists, Hafsat Abiola, said the verdict came as a surprise after previous trials ended without convictions. Nigerian authorities still view Al-Mustapha as a security threat, holding him in Lagos’ maximum-security Kirikiri prison. In 2004, officials claimed he planned to have someone shoot down a helicopter carrying then-President Olusegun Obasanjo with a Stinger missile. He’s also escaped convictions in other trials.

“I feel very relieved that over 15 years after my mother was assassinated that the people who killed her have been sentenced to death,” Hafsat Abiola told The Associated Press. “It is not so much you want people to believe in the death penalty, but in a country with so much abuse of power and state impunity, we need to make sure people who commit crimes have to pay for it.”

Al-Mustapha, a Hausa from the country’s north, still receives support from the Muslim populace there, highlighting Nigeria’s religious divisions. His recent claims in court also have been driving a further wedge, as he has offered a government memorandum that says hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on visitors to Abacha’s palace.

Al-Mustapha and his family claim the government and powerful politicians want him dead. But they also highlight the long unease between Nigeria’s north and south, where divisions largely fall along religious lines. Tens of thousands have died in religious and ethnic rioting since the nation embraced democracy in 1999.

As Al-Mustapha left the court Monday afternoon, some supporters in the crowd cheered for him and shouted “God is great” as he stood at the top of a courthouse staircase. He smiled and waved to those below, looking like a politician, not a man sentenced minutes earlier to death.

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Jon Gambrell can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.

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Libya Crisis

Libya's ex-rebels reluctant to down arms

Libya's Amazigh demand recognition

Libya economy banks on cash for recovery

'Cleansed' Libyan town spills its terrible secrets

Confusion surrounds events in the Libyan town of Bani Walid after fighting broke out between armed groups on Monday, leaving four people dead.

The head of the local council has said a local militia was attacked by remnants of forces supporting late Libyan leader Col Muammar Gaddafi.

But the post-Gaddafi government has denied pro-Gaddafi forces were involved, saying instead the fighting was between rival militias.

The town is now reported to be calm.

The state-run Libyan news agency WAL quotes the head of Bani Walid's council, Mubarak al-Fatamni, as saying that forces loyal to the new government were attacked on 23 January in a “barbaric manner” by members of the “remnants of the Gaddafi regime”.

Mr Fatamni said pro-Gaddafi forces raised their green flag over the town for a short time on Monday afternoon, the Associated Press news agency reports.

But spokesmen for the prime minister and defence ministry have told the BBC the dispute is a local one.

Armed groups

Bani Walid was one of the last towns to fall to anti-Gaddafi forces

A source within the Libyan government, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC the fighting broke out after a group of former rebel fighters, the 28 May Brigade, arrested one person.

The fighting was “more a clash between local people regarding a difference of who this [arrested] person was,” the source said. “But of course now other people seem to be involved as well. The situation is not very clear who is who. It's still confused.”

This is the latest in a series of clashes between rival armed groups, three months after the official end of the revolution that ousted Col Gaddafi, says the BBC's Gabriel Gatehouse in the eastern city of Benghazi.

On Tuesday, Reuters reporters who visited the town said militias loyal to the NTC had been driven out and town elders said they were appointing their own local government.

The Libyan defence ministry will be sending someone to the town, the government source said.

It is likely that some of the men involved in these latest clashes were indeed amongst those fighting on Col Gaddafi's side, our correspondent says – but in post-revolutionary Libya, the pro-Gaddafi label is also increasingly used in bitter local feuds.

Bani Walid was one of the last pro-Gaddafi towns to fall in the conflict.

Earlier this month, armed clashes between militias in the towns of Assabia and Gharyan left 12 dead and about 100 injured.

Libya's interim leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil has warned of the dangers of a civil war if the country's militias are not disarmed.

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CAIRO – Three American democracy advocates barred by Egyptian authorities from leaving the country have sought refuge at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, officials said Monday, as tensions between the two allied nations sharply escalated over a probe into foreign-funded organizations.

The unusual step comes amid a row over an Egyptian crackdown on U.S.-funded groups promoting democracy and human rights that has jeopardized more than $1 billion of crucial U.S. aid to Egypt, one of its biggest recipients.

The investigation is closely intertwined with Egypt’s political turmoil since Hosni Mubarak’s fall nearly a year ago. The generals who took power have accused “foreign hands” of being behind protests against their rule and frequently depict the protesters as receiving foreign funds in a plot to destabilize the country.

Egyptian authorities are preventing at least six Americans and four Europeans from leaving the country, citing a probe opened last month when heavily armed security forces raided the offices of 10 international organizations. Egyptian officials have defended the raid as part of legitimate investigation into the groups’ work and funding.

Those banned include Sam LaHood, son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, but officials would not say whether he is at the embassy. The younger LaHood, who heads the Egypt office of the Washington-based International Republican Institute, referred queries to a spokeswoman in Washington who did not return calls seeking comment.

U.S. State Department spokeswoman Kate Starr told reporters in Washington Monday that the citizens were in the embassy.

“A handful of U.S. citizens have opted to stay in the embassy compound in Cairo while waiting for permission to depart Egypt,” she said.

Another official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said three Americans are at the embassy, adding that the move was not because the U.S. feared their imminent arrest.

A former IRI official quoted in The Washington Post Sunday, however, said his colleagues had indicated that they would only move to the embassy if they feared they’d be arrested soon.

U.S. officials have warned that restrictions on civil society groups could hinder aid to Egypt, which would be a major blow to the country as it struggles with economic woes and continued turmoil in the wake of the 18-day popular uprising that led to Mubarak’s Feb. 11 ouster. Egypt’s military has been locked in a confrontation for months with protesters who demand it immediately hand over power to civilians.

The Egyptian army itself receives more than $1 billion a year from Washington. The December raids brought sharp U.S. criticism, and last week President Barack Obama spoke by telephone with Egyptian military chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi about the issue.

Recent U.S. legislation could block annual aid to Egypt unless it takes certain steps. These include abiding by its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, holding free and fair elections and “implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association and religion and due process of law.”

The U.S. is due to give $1.3 billion in military assistance and $250 million in economic aid to Egypt in 2012. Washington has given Egypt an average of $2 billion in economic and military aid a year since 1979, according to the Congressional Research Service.

Sam LaHood of IRI said last week that three other employees of his organization were on the no-fly list, two American and one European.

From the National Democratic Institute, which was also raided in December, three Americans and three Serb employees are on the list, the group’s Egypt director, Lisa Hughes, said last week.

Hughes said in a text message Monday that none of NDI’s employees are residing at the U.S. Embassy.

A U.S. embassy spokeswoman did not respond Monday to requests for comment.

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CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt's parliament opened on Monday for the first time since a historic free election put Islamists in the driving seat after years of repression under deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) was the biggest winner in the first free vote in decades. It has vowed to guide Egypt in the transition to civilian rule after generals took charge following the popular uprising that began on January 25 and ended with Mubarak's ouster on February 11.

“I invite the distinguished assembly to stand and read the fatiha (Muslim prayer) in memory of the martyrs of the January 25 revolution … because the blood of the martyrs is what brought this day,” said Mahmoud al-Saqa, 81, a member of the liberal Wafd party, who as oldest member of the house acted as speaker.

After commemorating with the silent prayer, each member read the oath of office. Some wore bright yellow sashes in protest against military trials of civilians.

One Islamist member, Mamdouh Ismail, read the oath that vows allegiance to the nation and its laws but added his own words “so long as it does not oppose God's law,” prompting the speaker to tell him repeat it without his own addition.

The rise of the Islamists marks a sea change from Mubarak's era when parliament was a compliant body stuffed with members of his National Democratic Party, which put loyalty and self-interest before religion or ideology.

The Brotherhood was officially banned but won some seats by running “independent” candidates.

Generals will remain in charge until after a presidential election in June when they have promised to hand over power, though many Egyptians suspect the army may seek to retain influence behind the scenes even after that.

“Today we resume the revolution. We have wasted a year. We have work to do,” Kamal Abu Etta, prominent labor union activist and member of the non-religious Karama party, said as he entered the building that was surrounded by police.

One of the first steps in Monday's session of the lower house will be to elect a speaker, set to be the FJP's nominee, Mohamed Saad el-Katatni. Elections to parliament's upper house will be in February.

Although Islamists dominate, it is unclear whether they will form a single bloc in parliament, which will have a key role in drafting the new constitution by picking the 100-strong assembly that will draw up the new document. The Brotherhood has said it wants to be inclusive and ensure all voices in Egypt are heard.

“We will cooperate with everyone: with the political forces inside and outside parliament, with the interim government and with the military council until we reach safety heralded by presidential election,” said Essam el-Erian, deputy FJP head.

REVIVAL

Youth movements, who put national pride before religion when they galvanized Egyptians in the 18-day revolt against Mubarak, staged a small demonstration outside to ensure protesters killed in the uprising were not forgotten.

“We do not contest the popular mandate of parliament, but it better deliver on the rights of martyrs and wounded. We fear political parties may vie for political gain and ignore the youth,” activist Mohamed Fahmy said before the session began.

Liberals were pushed into third place behind the FJP and ultraconservative Islamist Salafis led by the al-Nour party, the surprise runners up. The FJP says it controls almost half the 498 elected seats, with a few re-runs still to be held.

Monday's session marks the revival of an assembly that in the early 20th century was a vibrant forum for the nation's aspirations and filled with deputies who vied with the monarch and Egypt's British overlords.

Parliament's independent voice was extinguished after a 1952 coup that toppled the king and swept military-backed autocrats to power. Mubarak was a former air force commander and the ruling military council is now led by Mubarak's defense minister for 20 years, Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.

“The Egyptian military seems at this point determined to carve out an exception to democratic rule for its area of power and interest,” Human Rights Watch's executive director Kenneth Roth said on Sunday at the launch of the group's annual report in Cairo. [ID:nL2E8CM2QM]

Parliamentarians see the new assembly as bringing Egypt a step closer to ending military rule.

“We say that we respect and appreciate the army but the military council must be held accountable for any mistakes … No one is above accountability,” the Brotherhood's general guide, Mohamed Badie, said last week.

But the Islamist group has also previously said it does not seek a confrontation with the military.

Some analysts have suggested the army will not fully abandon politics unless the Brotherhood and other prominent political parties offer guarantees that it will not face legal retribution over the killing of protesters.

Mubarak, 83, is now on trial for his role in the deaths of 850 people during the uprising. Scores of people have been killed in sporadic violence since then, including demonstrations against army rule in November and December.

(Additional reporting by Tamim Elyan; writing by Edmund Blair; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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After the recent attacks in Kano, an overnight curfew was imposed in the city

Two civilians have died in an attack on a police post in the northern Nigerian city of Kano, police say.

A BBC correspondent says that gunmen stormed the police station, throwing explosives and an hour-long shoot-out ensued.

The gunmen are suspected to be Islamist militants from Boko Haram, which recently carried out multiple bomb attacks in Kano, killing 185 people.

Police say they are also looking into reports of other shootings in Kano.

The BBC's Abdullahi Kaura Abubakar in Kano says this latest attack on a police station in the Naibawa district happened just before the start of the dusk-to-dawn curfew, which was imposed after the 20 January bombings – the most deadly since Boko Haram began its campaign of violence in 2009.

“We are scared. The police and Boko Haram members are battling each other and there is gunfire everywhere,” local resident Usman Ibrahim Bello told the Reuters news agency.

On Saturday, a Boko Haram spokesman rejected Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan's recent call for open dialogue to end the conflict.

He said it was “impossible” to hold talks, after police said they had killed 11 militants in the group's base in the north-eastern city of Maiduguri over the weekend.

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