Nigeria 'denies access to rebel'

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The Nigerian government is preventing lawyers from seeing a detained oil militant leader, a rebel group says.

Lawyers acting for Henry Okah have asked a judge to try again to compel the government to bring him to court.

Mr Okah and a colleague Edward Atatah were arrested in Angola in September and deported back to Nigeria in February, charged with gun-running.

The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (Mend) said it was afraid for Mr Okah's safety.

The group previously said he had been killed - claims denied by the government.

"The Nigerian government has blatantly refused to comply with a High Court order granting the lawyers and families of Henry Okah and Edward Atatah immediate access to see him," Mend said in a statement e-mailed to journalists.

His brother Charles said police had refused lawyers access to see him.

<a class="" href="/1/hi/world/africa/7257363.stm">My brother, the oil militant</a>

"The police said they had been separated and it would take time to bring them together. It must be some sort of joke," he said.

Last week a court ordered that Mr Okah be charged in court by 5 March at the latest.

Mend say they are fighting for a greater share of the oil wealth produced from the Niger Delta, but the government say Mr Okah is an arms dealer, and Delta militants are criminals.

Mend has kidnapped oil workers for ransom, and has been accused of bank robbery and murder.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's office was not available for comment.