Nigeria has sentenced 44 members of the Boko Haram jihadist group to prison terms of up to 30 years for financing terrorism, according to a statement issued Saturday by the country’s counterterrorism centre.

The individuals were among 54 suspects brought before four civilian courts specially established at a military facility in Kainji, Niger State. The trials resumed this week, marking the first such proceedings in seven years after the prosecution of over 1,000 terror suspects was halted.

“The convictions resulted in sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years, all with hard labour,” said Abu Michael, the agency’s spokesperson.

With these verdicts, Nigeria has now secured 785 convictions related to terrorism financing and related offences, he added. The remaining 10 cases have been postponed to a later date.

Nigeria is currently on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) "grey list" a designation shared by countries like South Sudan and South Africa due to shortcomings in tackling money laundering and terror financing.

Since Boko Haram launched its insurgency in 2009 in pursuit of an Islamic caliphate, over 40,000 people have been killed and around two million displaced, according to U.N. data. The violence has also spilled across borders into Cameroon, Chad, and Niger.

Mass trials of suspected jihadists began in 2017, nearly a decade into the insurgency. That initial phase, which lasted five months, saw 200 fighters convicted with sentences ranging from 20 years to death, depending on the severity of the crimes which included attacks on civilians, abductions, and the destruction of religious sites.

However, human rights organisations have raised concerns about due process, accusing security forces of detaining thousands without trial, legal representation, or formal charges.