Nigerian security forces routinely torture people -- including women and children -- taken in as suspects or for interrogation , Amnesty International has claimed in a graphic new report . In the study , released Thursday , the rights group alleges systemic use of torture by the police , based on hundreds of witness testimonies and other evidence gathered over the course of 10 years . People are often detained in dragnet operations and tortured as punishment , to extort money or to extract `` confessions '' as a shortcut to `` solve '' cases , it claims . The report , titled `` 'Welcome to hell fire ' : Torture and other ill-treatment in Nigeria '' alleges that abuse is so widespread that many police stations have an informal `` officer in charge of torture '' and that some police sections have special rooms , or `` torture chambers '' where it is carried out . Methods commonly used include nail or tooth extractions , choking , electric shocks , rape and other sexual violence , it claims . A spokesman for the Nigeria Police Force refuted the allegations , however , saying the report contained `` some blatant falsehoods and innuendos . '' `` Torture or ill-treatment is not , repeat , not an official policy of the Nigeria Police , '' said Emmanuel Ojukwu , force public relations officer and acting commissioner of police , in a statement . Amnesty says its researchers interviewed victims , their families , rights defenders and current and former police officers to compile the report . Boko Haram crackdown . The number of reported abuses has increased in northern Nigeria as Nigeria 's security forces have stepped up their fight against Boko Haram , the report said . Since 2009 , between 5,000 and 10,000 people have been detained as suspects in the crackdown on the militant Islamist group , which is designated as a terror organization by the United States . One man , identified only as Ahmed , said he was among a group of men who were stopped by soldiers outside a mosque after prayers in Yobe state in February 2013 . He said the soldiers `` told all of us to lie down on the ground in the street . '' `` The soldiers shot and killed some of them on the spot , some were shot on the legs , and the soldiers began to beat some of us on the head with iron rods , others were beaten with wood . '' The men were taken by vehicles to prison , Ahmed said , and some of the wounded men died on the way . Once there , they were `` kept tied for three days , '' fed only `` handfuls '' of food per day , and forced to share a half-liter of water per two men per day . The report goes on to quote Ahmed : . The beating , the torture was just too much for us . They do all types of things to you , the soldiers . They will tie your hands behind your back , with the elbows touching and then one of them will walk on your tied hands with their boots . Your hands will remain tied and then they 'll pour salt water on your wounds . You ca n't rub it , even if it goes into your eyes . My eyes got swollen as a result of that . I thought I was going to be blind . I have never experienced such brutality in my life . '' ' I was bleeding ' `` This goes far beyond the appalling torture and killing of suspected Boko Haram members , '' said Netsanet Belay , Amnesty International 's research and advocacy director for Africa . `` Across the country , the scope and severity of torture inflicted on Nigeria 's women , men and children by the authorities supposed to protect them is shocking to even the most hardened human rights observer . '' Belay called for Nigeria 's Parliament to take the `` long overdue step '' of passing a law to criminalize torture , which is banned under the country 's constitution and international treaties . The report also cited examples of abuse against women and children . Mahmood , a 15-year-old boy from Yobe state in northern Nigeria , `` was arrested by soldiers with around 50 other people , mainly boys between 13 and 19 years old , '' the report stated . Amnesty International said the military `` held him for three weeks , beat him repeatedly with their gun butts , batons and machetes , poured melting plastic on his back , made him walk and roll over broken bottles and forced him to watch other detainees being executed ( without trial ) . Mahmood was freed in April 2013 , according to the report . Military in Yobe state even arrested and beat a 12-year-old boy , poured alcohol on him , forced him to clean vomit with his bare hands and stepped on him . One 24-year-old woman named Abosede told Amnesty International she was abused using tear gas and still suffers as a result . `` A policewoman took me to a small room , told me to remove everything I was wearing , '' she is quoted as saying . `` She spread my legs wide and fired tear gas into my vagina ... I was asked to confess that I was an armed robber ... I was bleeding ... up till now I still feel pain in my womb . '' 'Not systemic or endemic ' Ojukwu said the Nigerian Police Force has been `` undergoing systematic reforms , and aligning themselves with the demands of democracy '' but that it has significantly improved its human rights record since 1999 . `` The police do not routinely torture suspects , '' he said . `` It is not systemic or endemic . Whenever instances of human rights abuses are brought to the notice of superintending officers , the offending personnel are promptly sanctioned in line with the laws and regulations . '' The Amnesty International reporters did not speak to the police authorities , he said , which denied them the opportunity to have a fair hearing . He called on Amnesty International to provide specific details of the allegations and said they would be investigated . Belay dismissed the Nigerian police response to the Amnesty International report . `` The police decision to deny the findings before careful reading of the report or examining the accusations made in it echoes their attitude to criminal investigations -- apportioning blame before ascertaining the facts . `` Their pledge to investigate abuses rings hollow so long as they continue to refute our evidence of systemic torture , gathered from more than 500 cases and including testimony from current and former police officers . ''
the Nigeria Police alleges the systemic use of torture by the police in Yobe . Methods used include nail or tooth extractions , choking , electric shocks and rape , it says . A spokesman for Amnesty International refutes the claim , cites `` Torture or ill-treatment is not , repeat `` blatant falsehoods '' , not an official policy of the Nigeria Police , '' he says .