Niger military
Protesters hold a Niger flag during a demonstration on independence day in Niamey on August 3, 2023. – Hundreds of people backing the coup in Niger gathered on August 3, 2023 for a mass rally in the capital Niamey with some brandishing giant Russian flags. The demonstrators converged at Concertation Square in the heart of the city, following a call by a coalition of civil society associations on a day marking the country’s 1960 independence from France. (Photo by – / AFP)

Home » Niger overturns jail sentence for activists leader supporting military

Niger overturns jail sentence for activists leader supporting military

The head of a prominent activist group that supports the ruling military, Abdoulaye Seydou, had his sentence overturned by the court.

By AFP
15-08-23 16:24
in Africa
Niger military
Protesters hold a Niger flag during a demonstration on independence day in Niamey on August 3, 2023. – Hundreds of people backing the coup in Niger gathered on August 3, 2023 for a mass rally in the capital Niamey with some brandishing giant Russian flags. The demonstrators converged at Concertation Square in the heart of the city, following a call by a coalition of civil society associations on a day marking the country’s 1960 independence from France. (Photo by – / AFP)

A Niamey court on Monday 14 August 2023 scrapped a nine-month jail sentence handed to Abdoulaye Seydou, head of a leading activist group which supports the ruling military, his entourage said.

ALSO READ: Why SA must ace the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg next week

Members of Niger’s presidential guard seized power in a coup late last month. Seydou, head of the M62 group, had been behind bars for seven months in a case involving an army air strike on suspected jihadists in the south of the country.

ALSO READ: African Union convenes talks amid Niger crisis

WAS THE NIGER MILITARY FAVOURED BY THE HIGH COURT’S DECISION?

“The Niamey Court of Appeal has cancelled the decision of the High Court… which had sentenced our comrade Abdoulaye Seydou to nine months in prison”, said M62 secretary general Sanoussi Mahama.

“We have always said that Abdoulaye Seydou’s detention is an arbitrary decision… orchestrated from start to finish”. The M62 movement, set up a year ago, is a coalition of around ten groups and NGOs opposed to the presence of French military forces in Niger.

ALSO READ: Niger’s detained Bazoum receives medical attention from doctor

WHEN WAS SEYDOU ARRESTED?

In recent weeks, it has led calls for rallies to support officers who, on July 26, toppled the country’s elected president, Mohamed Bazoum. Seydou was taken into custody in January and sentenced in April.

His group had accused the defence and security forces of massacring civilians in helicopter raids on an illegal gold mine last October, launched on the grounds that the alleged killers of two police officers had holed up there.

ALSO READ: Niger military leaders to host Nigerian religious chiefs

The government has acknowledged air strikes were carried out after two police were killed at Tamou, near the border with Burkina Faso. It said seven people were killed and 24 wounded in the raids, but the political opposition and civic groups say the death toll was much higher.

Tags: featured Important MMifunsa Niger