NIGER REPUBLIC JAILS LEADING ACTIVIST CRITICAL OF JUNTA
Read Time:1 Minute, 37 Second
A Niger court on Friday jailed a leading civil society figure and critic of the military-led authorities, one month after he was detained following a trip abroad, his NGO said.
Moussa Tchangari, a fierce critic of the junta who has voiced “total support” for ousted president Mohamed Bazoum, was seized by unidentified gunmen at his home in the capital Niamey on December 3.
Tchangari has described the July 2023 military coup and power grab by the chief of Niger’s powerful presidential guard General Abdourahamane Tiani as a “setback”.
Since then, Bazoum, who had been democratically elected, has been imprisoned with his wife Hadiza at the presidential palace in the capital Niamey.
Tchangari was “incarcerated at Filingue prison by the senior investigating judge” of a Niamey court, his organisation Alternative Citizen Spaces (AEC) said.
Filingue prison, about 200 kilometres (120 miles) northeast of Niamey, is notorious for holding political dissidents who have opposed Niger’s previous governments.
According to the Air Info newspaper, Tchangari “was coming back from a trip outside of the country” when he was arrested at home by “four men dressed in civilian clothes”.
A longstanding figure of civil society in Niger, the 55-year-old is accused of “glorifying terrorism, undermining national security” and being involved in a “criminal conspiracy in connection with terrorism”, AEC has said.
His phone and laptop were seized during the arrest, according to AEC member Kaka Touda.
A few days later, three rights groups — Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders — called for his release.
The organisations linked his arrest to what they called a “pervasive crackdown” by the Nigerien authorities on political opponents and the media since Tiani seized power in 2023.
Tchangari was previously arrested in May 2015 and later freed over critical remarks by his organisation about the humanitarian situation in southeastern Niger, where the army is fighting a jihadist insurgency.
AFP
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0