Bloomberg News: UN Panel Urges Niger Junta to Release Detained President
Reed Brody, avocat spécialisé dans les crimes de guerre, est un membre de la Commission internationale des juristes. © RFI
A United Nations human rights body called for the immediate release of Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, who’s been detained since a 2023 military coup.
Bazoum is “being held in precarious conditions, have been deprived of electricity for several months and have suffered serious health problems,” the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said in its decision sent to Bazoum’s legal team, which provided the document to Bloomberg. The president is being held arbitrarily in violation of international law, it said.
Bazoum, 65, faces charges of “treason” after his presidential immunity was revoked by the junta last year, risks being sentenced to death by a military court if a trial goes ahead.
“Bazoum is a hostage of the junta, which is using him as a human shield,” Moussa Coulibaly, a member of Bazoum’s legal team, said in a separate statement.
Niger has been under military rule since July 2023, when a coup spearheaded by interim President General Abdourahamane Tiani led to the overthrow of the uranium-rich West African nation’s civilian leadership.