Niger: protests after the arrest of five activists including a French

Published on : 12/12/2021 – 08:53

Eleven international NGOs have called for the release of five civil society actors, including a Frenchman, arrested in Niamey on the sidelines of the celebration of International Human Rights Day, they said on Saturday 11 December.

On Friday, international human rights day, four activists from Tournons La Page (TLP) Niger and Mathieu Pourchier, an employee of Agir Ensemble pour les Droits Humans, “were arrested and spent the night in custody in Niamey”, explain these organizations in a press release.

The four Nigerien activists arrested are Armadan Moussa, Biliyaminou Idi, Mubarak Habou and Hima Hamani.

For the celebration of the international day of human rights, TLP-Niger had organized a citizens’ caravan of democracy aiming “to sensitize the populations of Niamey on the respect of the fundamental rights and the benefits of a democratic system”, affirm these NGOs whose Acting together for human rights, Tournons La Page, Avocats sans frontières and the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH).

After the caravan left the TLP-Niger headquarters in Niamey, the police arrested fifteen activists, “four of whom were questioned and taken into custody at the Niamey central police station” where “they will spend the night for” unauthorized assembly. “, they note.

“The other people including taxi drivers and journalists have been released, but the four members of TLP and Mathieu Pourchier are still kept in the police station,” Maikoul Zodi told AFP in the early evening. , national coordinator of the Tournons La Page movement.

Prohibited demonstration

Mathieu Pourchier, also in charge of advocacy and protection for the international secretariat of TLP, in Niamey “was not part of the caravanners” and was “arrested in town by four plainclothes police officers while he was riding a motorbike”, noted these NGOs.

The signatories of the press release “call on the authorities of Niger” to notably “immediately release” those arrested and “put an end to any practice of harassment against members of civil society”.

Nigerien justice has banned a demonstration scheduled for Sunday by TLP in Niamey to protest and demand the departure of Western military bases, especially French, present in Niger as part of the anti-jihadist fight.

With AFP