Journalist arrested over defamation charges
Journalist and administrator of the mides-niger.com news site, Samira Sabou was fired from her position as a contractual worker for the newspaper, Le Sahel, which is managed by the National Office for Publishing and Press (ONEP, Office National d’Édition et de Presse) in October 2017, after she posted a photo of herself mimicking President Issoufou. Following pressures from the authorities, her phone was taken from her by her editor, and the photo was forcibly deleted from her Facebook On 17 February 2020, a Tribunal in Niamey considered her firing from ONEP as abusive and ordered her employer to pay her compensation in the sum of FCFA 2.640.000.
The audit of the Niger defence ministry revealed allegations of overcharging of contracts and the embezzlement of billions of CFA francs intended for the purchase of military equipment for soldiers engaged on the various anti-terrorism fronts between 2017 and 2019.
According to a statement from the government spokesperson, the audit found weaknesses in the procurement procedures, as well as in the monitoring of their execution.
Since March 2020, members of civil society have denounced on social media and during demonstrations the facts revealed in the audit report - which leaked - the intrusions of the executive in the judicial proceedings and asked for a legal prosecution for those suspected to be responsible.
Since the beginning of the year, Amnesty International has recorded 27 arrests of activists, unionists, journalists and dissenting voices in Niger, 17 of them are anti-corruption activists who spoke out about allegations of corruption involving the Ministry of Defence.
Seven activists were arrested between 15 and 17 March in Niamey after organizing a demonstration on 15 March to demand an investigation and prosecution of those suspected of embezzlement of funds for the Defence Ministry.
There is also a pattern of harassment and intimidation of activists based on Cybercriminality Law. From March to end of May 2020, at least four activists were arrested and charged on the basis this law.
Ali Idrissa, coordinator of ROTAB (The Organisation for Transparency and Budgetary Analysis) and leader of civil society organisation was summoned to the police station on 9 April following a complaint by the former Army Chief of Staff. He was accused of defamation in connection with the corruption scandal involving the Ministry of Defense. Ali Idrissa was released on bail on 14 April. He was charged with “defamation against the general of the army and the wife of the former Chief of staff”, as well as the “dissemination of information likely to disturb public order” based on the Cybercriminality Law.