Nigerian oil rebel in court, charged with treason

By Camillus Eboh

JOS, Nigeria, April 3 (Reuters) - A rebel leader from Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta was formally charged with treason and gun-running on Thursday in a first court appearance, court sources said.

Armed soldiers and police ringed the Federal High Court in the central city of Jos, where Henry Okah, a suspected leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), appeared. Journalists were not allowed in the courtroom.

Okah's defence lawyers were barred from making details of the hearing public but said they were lodging a formal objection against an order by judicial authorities for Okah's trial to be 0closed to the public and the press.

Court sources, who asked not to be named, said Okah's case was adjourned until April 22. He could face the death penalty if convicted.

MEND's 2006 campaign of bombings of oil pipelines and kidnappings of foreign oil workers forced the closure of a fifth of Nigerian crude output. The militant group has said it will closely watch the outcome of Okah's trial.

Okah was arrested in Angola last September and handed over to Nigeria on Feb. 14. His detention in a secret location has angered many militants in the delta, jeopardising government efforts to make peace with them.

Prosecutors last month revealed a barrage of charges against Okah, who was accused of gun-running and conspiring to wage war on the government.

"I've seen my client. He's well and fine," Okah's chief defence lawyer, Femi Falana told journalists outside the courtroom compound in Jos.