1 February: Niger at the Universal Periodic Review

Joint report of the OCS and of the state.

Documents not available yet in english

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Ruling on Tandja release rejected: reason of law or right of reason?
11-10-2010

The junta rejected a ruling by a West African regional court that it release ousted president Mamadou Tandja from captivity, and will seek a judicial review of the case.

The Economic Community of West African States (Ecowas) court on Monday ordered the release of Tandja, who has been held by the military junta since his overthrow in February.

The junta which took over from Tandja has since organised a referendum and promises presidential and legislative elections on January 31 next year with a handover of power slated for April refused the decision of the court of justice of the ECOWAS.

Was the WECOWAS right to take this decision for Tandja who refused a call from the same organization asking him to give up his plan of changing the constitution of his country?

The court of justice of the ECOWAS would have considered the detention without charge of Tanja as "illegal." Human beings being infinitely above all, this approach to human dignity probably led the court of justice of the ECOWAS to demand his release.

However, everybody knows the autocratic drift of Tandja led the army to impose the Supreme Council for the Restoration of Democracy (CSRD ) after a military coup.
Hailed by the majority of Nigerians, the coup was considered as delivery. In the context of restoration of democracy in Niger, the referendum represents the first stage of transition that began in February. This process will culminate in a presidential election in January 2011, followed by a return of power to civilian before April, as promised by the junta. As a result, the junta zould first restore constitutional order and take up then the case Tandja. As if to say Nation first.


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Famille Tandja refered to the court of justice of the ECOWAS the release of Mamadou
11-09-2010

The court of justice of the West African regional body Ecowas ordered Niger's military rulers on Monday to release Mamadou Tandja, the former president who was ousted by the soldiers in a coup earlier this year.

Tandja has been held under house arrest since he was toppled in February by soldiers who have since promised to hold elections and return power to civilians in the uranium-exporting nation by April 2011. Tandja's removal was largely welcomed in Niger since he had grown increasingly unpopular after scrapping the previous constitution in order to stay in power after the end of his second term in office.
Last July, two letters penned by President Mamadou Tandja from his place of detention, had been sent, one to the President of the Court of Justice of ECOWAS and the other to His Excellency the President, Djibo Minister of Interior, Security, Decentralization and Religious Affairs. In the first he asked particularly to the President of the High Court in Abuja not to consider any complaint that would have been lodged on his behalf. In the second he sought clemency from the President of transition, he wanted to reassure that he was neither close nor far involved in the initiative to file a complaint with the High Court of Justice of ECOWAS.

"This is satisfying, deeply satisfying for us," Souley Oumarou, the Tandja family's lawyer, told Reuters by telephone on Monday.
"The soldiers have no choice but to abide by the court's decision, which cannot be appealed."


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One thing that characterizes most African countries is the lack of will to sit a democratic culture characterized by the observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

In Niger, the non-observance of human rights in recent years has led to numerous violations of these rights vis-à-vis to those who denounce them. Arbitrary arrests and detentions, judicial harassment, violent repression of opposition demonstrations, violations of fundamental freedoms.
Recent cases about members of civil society such Marou Amadou (for which the WAHRDN made a press release) and Wada Maman was flagrant. They have been arrested, detained arbitrary and continue up to now to be subjected to prosecution.

Although arrested, Marou Amadou, seen as leader of the civil society in Niger is optimistic and said that the struggle for the advent of democracy in Niger takes the time needed but it will achieve its objectives. Dictatorships''is like a large baobab tree, through constant ax every morning, it will eventually crumble one day ... ‘’ he said.

Will the arrest of the President of the Republic of Niger Mamadou Tanda allow human rights defenders to fully enjoy their rights to freedom of expression and that the lawsuits against Marou and his comrades be stopped ?
Wait and see!

More than a serial film, case Marou Amadou sadly continues episode after episode.
The West African Human Rights DefendersNetwork (ROADDH / WAHRDN) was informed anew that a sentence of imprisonment was pronounced against Mr. Marou Amadou, president of the FUSADES and CRUSADE. On January 25, 2010, the Court of Appeal of Niamey sentenced Mr Marou Amadou to three months of imprisonment with remission of sentence for "regionalist propaganda".

Background

Indeed, on August 10, 2009, Marou Amadou was arrested by the police and detained in the prison of high security of Koutoukali, at 113 km from Niamey. He is accused of "offense against state security". On August 11, 2009, he appeared before the TGI and was acquitted on procedural grounds. The same day around 16:00, while waiting the proceedings related to his release, two vehicles arrived at FSIN civil prison and boarded him without presenting a warrant and without any explanation or indication of the place where they would lead. The place where he was remained unknown until the next day when his colleagues and his family learned he was detained by the police. He could not receive any visits until 13 August except his lawyer.

 On August 9, 2009, Marou Amadou read a public statement of FUSADES, to mark the 10th anniversary of the Constitution of Niger, denouncing the corruption of the government of President Tandja Mamadou and the illegality of the referendum backed by the government held August 4, 2009. In this statement he refers to the fact that June 12, 2009 the Constitutional Court recognized the illegality of this referendum.

On June 29, 2009, during a television program Marou Amadou had mentioned a statement issued by the Front for Defense of Democracy (FDD), in which he asked the army to respect 13thArticle of the Constitution of Niger. The same day, Marou Amadou was arrested and detained by the police in Niamey. On June 30, 2009, he was accused of "incitating disobedience to the security forces," plotting against the authority of the State "and" out to demoralize the armed forces according to the 76th, 78th, and 79th Articles of the Penal Code - charges for which he may be sentenced to death. He was also accused of "flagrant violation by way of press." He was released July 2, 2009, but all charges are pending.

Niger, officially the Republic of Niger is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east. Its size is almost 1,270,000 km², making it the largest nation in West Africa, with a population of just above 15,000,000, mostly clustered in the far south and west of the nation. The capital city is Niamey.
Niger is one of the poorest and least developed countries in the world, with over 80% of its territory covered by the Sahara desert, and much of the rest threatened by periodic drought and desertification. The economy is concentrated around subsistence and some export agriculture clustered in the more fertile south, and the export of raw materials—especially uranium ore. Niger remains handicapped by its landlocked position, poor education, infrastructure, health care, and environmental degradation.

Nigerien society reflects a great diversity drawn from the long independent histories of its several ethnic groups and regions and their relatively short period living in a single state. Historically, what is now Niger has been on the fringes of several large states. Since independence, Nigeriens have lived under five constitutions and three periods of military rule, but have maintained elected multiparty rule since 1999. The vast majority of the population practice Islam. A majority also live in rural areas, and have little access to advanced education.

The involvement of the military in politics has historically led to regular, if infrequent, arbitrary arrest and detention, use of excessive force, torture, and extra-judicial killing by security forces and police. The judiciary has historically suffered from poor jail and prison conditions, prolonged pretrial detention, and executive interference in the judiciary. While all these have improved dramatically since the return to civilian rule, international human rights organizations continue to report sporadic incidents of all these abuses. Post-1999 there has been a marked improvement of civilian control of security forces, with the United States State Department contending every year since 2001 that the military was under civilian control.

In 2009, Reporters Without Borders and the International Federation of Journalists accused the government of Niger of carrying out repeated harassment of Nigerien journalists, following three high profile arrests and libel cases brought against newspapers by members of the government and the arrest of two officials of Dounia TV for comments made by others on their station. Dounia, the only non-governmental Nigerien Television News station, has been accused of giving air time to supporters Hama Amadou, an imprisoned ruling party rival of the President of Niger. RSF claimed that "The Dounia group is the victim of repeated harassment by the judicial authorities.