I still remember Patrick very vividly as my little brother, who I left behind in Nigeria in 1994 as I set out for Germany, to pursue a master's degree programme in international relations.
Never had I thought that less than a year after I left Nigeria, my little brother Patrick, who I used to call "gentleman", would be arrested and condemned to death for a crime he did not commit. Patrick has been languishing in prison in Nigeria since the age of 14. This coming Sunday, he will turn 30.
Patrick was a very happy boy, easy to please, and as a child he hardly ever even quarrelled with his friends. Everybody liked him and he was the sunshine of our whole family.
In 1996, my teenage brother was asked to bring our mother's car to the police station for an "inspection", at their request. Our mother had recently acquired the car from a second-hand car dealer. He drove it there, and there the police arrested him and charged him, along with six other people, with kidnapping. One of the six other men was the man who had sold the car to our mother.
Patrick had thought it a routine request, and it was absolutely staggering that such allegations were now being levelled at him. A tribunal was convened, and Patrick, along with the six other men, was convicted of the crime of armed robbery. They were all sentenced to death.
The tribunal was composed of a policeman, a soldier and a retired customary court judge. The conviction occurred under the military government of General Sani Abacha and, under that administration, my brother did not have the right of appeal.
The six other men were executed by firing squad following the conviction. My brother, thankfully, was not.
This was the first in a long series of indications that there was some concern regarding the validity of his conviction. Patrick's sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in July 1997. In May 2000, the high court of Imo state allowed him to file a motion to overturn his sentence. On 18 October 2001, the high court quashed the original sentence of death for being "illegal, null and void".
Rather than releasing Patrick as a consequence of this order, the court ruled that in place of the death penalty he was "to be detained during the pleasure of the governor of Imo state". This means that the governor has the personal authority to release him at any point in time of his choosing, even at this very minute.
Nine years have passed since Patrick's detention in prison at the pleasure of the governor of Imo state started, and he is still in prison today.
Last year, following increased campaigning around his case, the government of Imo state decided to set up a committee (not a court of law) to advise it on what to do about Patrick and his case. This committee advised the state to change his status in prison from being detained at the pleasure of the governor, to ten years in prison. Patrick and our family believe this decision is unfair and unjust, not only because he is innocent in the first place, but because it does not take into consideration the 15 years he has already spent in prison. I believe that the authorities are not prepared to lose face by admitting that his conviction and imprisonment were a mistake.
The years Patrick has spent in prison has cost my family dearly. For 14 years our family kept the plight of Patrick within the family. Our family went through the financial, emotional and psychological costs of having an innocent member of our family in prison. Since then, Amnesty has supported our case, and thankfully, we have seen some developments.
Despite this hope, my mother is extremely ill now as a result of the stress. She is desperate to be reunited with her son after so long. My brother has spent his adolescence and youth behind bars. It is an injustice and a tragedy. I only hope that for him, life really can begin at 30.