Niger: the UN is concerned about the "inhuman" conditions of detention of the ousted president

Overthrown by the military, Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum is being held in apparently “inhumane” conditions, according to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk. The organization warned against any violation of human rights.

“I am particularly concerned about the conditions in which Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum, his wife and son are arbitrarily detained, and which are rapidly deteriorating,” he said in a statement.

“I have received reliable information that his conditions of detention amount to degrading and inhuman treatment, in violation of international law,” he added. “Electricity would have been cut off, as well as access to drinking water and medicine,” he said.

“Those responsible for the detention of the president must ensure that his rights and those of others held with him are respected,” he concluded.

More than two weeks after the coup that overthrew him on July 26, fears were growing about the conditions of detention and the fate reserved for President Mohamed Bazoum, a prisoner with his family ever since.

The European Union has expressed its “deep concern” at the “deterioration of the conditions of detention” of Mohamed Bazoum, held prisoner with his wife and son.

President Bazoum and his family “would be, according to the latest information, deprived of food, electricity and care for several days […]. There is no justification for such treatment,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

The chairperson of the African Union Commission, Moussa Faki Mahamat, also expressed his “serious concerns” on Friday about the “deterioration of the conditions of detention” of Mr. Bazoum.

According to the NGO Human Rights Watch who spoke to Mr. Bazoum, he described the treatment of his family as “inhumane and cruel”, saying he had no electricity since August 2, nor any human contact since. one week.

And the prospect of a military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) raises fears for his safety: according to one of his relatives, the putschists brandished “the threat” to attack him if such an operation were launched.