Rights groups in Niger Republic have called for the immediate and unconditional release of Moudi Moussa, Halidou Mounkaila, and Maikoul Zodi.
Development Diaries understands that the three human rights defenders were arrested with four other activists in Niamey, the capital of the West African country, in March for participating in protests calling for an investigation into allegations of the misuse of funds by the country’s defence ministry.
Authorities had placed a blanket ban on all demonstrations on 13 March as a preventive measure against the Covid-19 pandemic.
The trumped-up charges against them include ‘organising an unauthorised gathering’, arson, damage to public property and manslaughter.
Moudi, Halidou and Maikoul were granted bail of five million Francs on 6 August and but they have not been released.
CIVICUS, Amnesty International, Publish What You Pay (PWYP), Tournos la Page International (TLP), and Front Line Defenders are concerned about the harassment, intimidation and attacks on human rights activists and defenders.
‘Over the last eight months, we have seen a surge in human rights violations by the Nigerien authorities including intimidation and harassment of human rights activists, defenders, and journalists’, said David Kode, Advocacy and Campaigns Lead, CIVICUS.
‘It is a travesty that Moudi Moussa, Halidou Mounkaila, and Maikoul Zodi are still in jail simply for protesting against alleged misuse of defence funds. They should all be released immediately and unconditionally.
‘We believe charges against the activists related to complicity in damaging public property, arson, and manslaughter, are fabricated to undermine the peaceful exercise of their human rights and demands for transparency and accountability’.
The organisations called on the government of Niger to stop persecuting members of civil society.
Source: CIVICUS
Photo source: Richard Potts