(Adds photos of Okah sent by MEND, paragraphs 6-7)

By Camillus Eboh

ABUJA, Feb 22 (Reuters) - A Nigerian judge on Friday ordered that a rebel leader from the oil producing Niger Delta be given access to his lawyers, in the first court hearing related to an arrest that risks rekindling violence in the delta.

Okah was extradited to Nigeria on Feb. 14 from Angola, where he was arrested in September on gun-running charges, and his detention in a secret location in Nigeria has raised tensions in the delta, which produces 2.1 million barrels of crude per day.

He was not present in court on Friday when his counsel, Femi Falana, presented a suit accusing the government of illegally detaining him and denying him access to lawyers and family.

Judge Babs Kwewumi ruled that Okah be granted access to lawyers and family. He said the government should explain its position and set a date for a hearing on March 5.

Okah was the leader of the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which launched a series of attacks on the oil industry in early 2006 that shut down a fifth of Nigerian output, driving up oil prices on world markets.

Based in South Africa, he used to organise sophisticated raids in the creeks of the delta and inform journalists of the details by email using a pseudonym, Jomo Gbomo.

Since his detention, other MEND members have taken over the Jomo Gbomo email account and on Friday they used it to send pictures of Okah, seen posing playfully in a smart shirt with his wife and children. They were the first photos of Okah to be made public and were apparently a bid for sympathy.

Okah has not been seen in public since he was brought to Nigeria. The MEND said on Tuesday it had received information he had been shot dead in detention, but the government denied this and said he was alive and in safe custody.

Some militants and activists in the delta have said they are considering pulling out of peace talks over the Okah issue.

He has not been formally charged, but police on Thursday issued a press statement accusing him of many crimes.

These included killing troops and hostages, dealing weapons, smuggling crude oil, financing militant attacks, piracy, sabotage of the oil industry, bank robberies and secessionism.

In his suit, Falana said Okah and co-detainee Edward Atatah were innocent of any crime and had travelled to Angola to inspect a trawler ship they were thinking of buying.

The arrest and prosecution in late 2005 of another prominent delta rebel leader, Mujahid Dokubo-Asari, was one of the factors that spawned the MEND and caused the 2006 surge in attacks.

The MEND says it is fighting for fairer redistribution of oil wealth in the impoverished delta, where most people have no clean water or electricity while billions of petrodollars have enriched foreign oil firms and corrupt politicians. (Writing by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Catherine Evans)

AlertNet news is provided by