A Federal High Court in Abuja has adjourned proceedings to rule on the admissibility of confessional statements allegedly made by three Nigerians accused of spying for Iran.

The accused; Haruna Ali Abbas, Ibrahim Hussaini Musa and Adam Suleiman, are facing terrorism charge brought by the federal government through the Department of State Services (DSS).

Authorities alleged that the trio, arrested in Kano and Lagos in 2013, were engaged by Iranian operatives to gather intelligence on American and Israeli interests in Nigeria. During the trial, the defendants challenged the use of extra-judicial statements they made after arrest, claiming the confessions were not given voluntarily.

This however prompted the court to conduct a trial-within-trial to examine the statements’ admissibility. At the resumed hearing, prosecution counsel, Bello Abu, dismissed the defendants’ objections as an afterthought and urged the court to admit the statements and proceed with the substantive trial.

Responding, defence counsels, Aliyu Yawuri, Bala Dakun and Bello Ibrahim, maintained that the statements were made under duress and should be excluded from evidence. After hearing both sides, Justice Emeka Nwite announced that the date for the ruling would be communicated to the parties.

The DSS, in charge FHC/ABJ/ CR/129/2014, alleged that Abbas recruited Musa and Suleiman for terrorist training in Iran and participated in meetings linked to terrorism. He was also accused of transmitting intelligence on US and Israeli targets in Lagos to contacts in Iran using encrypted communication.

Musa and Suleiman, meanwhile, were alleged to have obtained Nigerian passports and Iranian visas for training, and conducted surveillance on US and Israeli embassies in Abuja, Kano, and Lagos in preparation for potential attacks. Upon arraignment, all three defendants pleaded not guilty and remain in DSS custody