The Human Rights Watch group has appealed to Pope John Paul to intervene on behalf of political prisoners in Nigeria, which he will visit for the second time this weekend.
Noting that the Cuban authorities released up to 300 prisoners following the Pope's visit there in January, the group says that "the Nigerian Government also holds a large number of political prisoners", and expressed the hope the Pope would appeal for their release during his visit.
Meanwhile, Amnesty International said yesterday that arrests and beatings in Nigeria had continued "shamelessly" right up to the visit, which begins today.
Amnesty called on the Nigerian government to release immediately and unconditionally all prisoners of conscience and put an immediate end to repeated human rights violations.
The Pope will meet the Nigerian head of state, Gen Sani Abacha during the visit, which ends on Monday. The highlight of the visit is the beatification of an ascetic monk, Father Iwene Tansi, who died in 1964.
The Pope's visit comes at a critical time for Nigeria, and for Gen Abacha (54), who is widely expected to stand in elections he has decreed for August.
As well as international human rights groups, Nigeria's Catholic bishops have also called for the release of political detainees, including Mr Moshood Abiola, the presumed winner of 1993 elections.
An immediate threat to the success of the visit is fuel shortages, reported from Abuja yesterday, as the city prepared for the Pope's arrival. Despite being Africa's biggest oil producer, fuel shortages are not rare in Nigeria, where oil refineries have collapsed in the face of neglect which has ruined much of the state sector.
