A Nigerian high court on Tuesday dismissed an application by the government seeking to stop a review of political asylum granted to former Liberian president Charles Taylor.

Stephen Adah, the presiding judge, held that government's application had no merit and set down the review of the asylum for December 6, according to the official News Agency of Nigeria.

Two Nigerian businessmen, Emmanuel Egbuna and David Anyaele, whose hands were chopped off by Sierra Leonean rebels during its 10-year civil war, had filed a suit before the court seeking an order of Mandamus directing government to reconsider the refugee status granted Taylor.

They also sought an order of certiorari quashing the refugee status granted to Taylor and that the former warlord should be released for trial before a special court on war crime in Sierra Leone.

The plaintiffs contended that Taylor masterminded the civil war in Sierra Leone to destabilize the state and to obtain access to the mineral wealth in the country.

Counsel to government, Wole Aina, filed a preliminary objection challenging the locus of the plaintiffs to institute the suit.

Aina argued that the plaintiffs did not show how their rights were violated by the asylum and also contended that the suit disclosed no reasonable cause of action against the defendants.

Justice Adah held that the plaintiffs had suffered irreparable injury by their mutilated hands and therefore had justiciary rights to pursue and also said that the asylum granted Taylor was a continued injury being suffered by the plaintiffs.

Taylor, who is now in exile in Nigeria, was indicted by the UN- backed War Crimes Court for Sierra Leone on 17 counts of crimes against humanity for his role in supporting the 1991-2002 Sierra Leonean civil war.

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has repeatedly said he would not succumb to pressure to hand Taylor over for trial.

Source: Xinhua