Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/Niger.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Niger. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Niger U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/niger/
[accessed 29 July
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT The constitution
and law prohibit such practices; however, there were reports by domestic
civil society organizations that security forces beat and abused civilians,
especially in the context of the fight against terrorism in Diffa and Tillabery Regions.
Security forces were also accused of rape and sexual abuse, which the
government stated it would investigate. There were
indications that security officials were sometimes involved in abusing or
harming detainees, especially members of the Fulani minority or those accused
of affiliation with Boko Haram or other extremist groups. There were
allegations that security forces and local leaders in the Diffa
Region harassed or detained citizens they accused of collusion with Boko
Haram, forcing the citizens to pay a “ransom” to end the harassment. ARREST PROCEDURES
AND TREATMENT OF DETAINEES Pretrial Detention:
Lengthy pretrial detention continued to be a problem. The law provides for
maximum pretrial confinement of 48 months for terrorism offenses where the
sentence could be 10 years or more in prison and 24 months for less serious
offenses. Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/niger/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 18 May
2020] F2. DOES DUE PROCESS PREVAIL IN CIVIL AND CRIMINAL
MATTERS? Arbitrary arrests
and imprisonments are frequent. In March 2017, over a dozen civilian
prisoners accused of taking part in plotting a coup against Issoufou’s regime
in late 2015 were freed as a result of lack of evidence in their cases, but
only after they had spent 15 months in pretrial detention. States of emergency
declared in several regions allow the army to engage in mass arrests and
detain those suspected of links with terrorist organizations. Successive
postponements of three activists’ trial increase pressure on civil society Amnesty
International AI, 28 September 2018 www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2018/09/niger-les-reports-successifs-du-proces-de-trois-activistes/ [accessed 9 January
2019] •
After more than 150 days in detention, Maikoul Zodi, Ibrahim Diori and Karim Tanko finally on trial in Niamey on Monday •
The proceedings against them must be immediately dropped •
Repression of those who criticize austerity measures must end. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT
- Several people, including nationals of Nigeria, accused of being members of
al-Qa’ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) or of Boko
Haram, a Nigerian Islamist armed group, and suspected of terrorist
activities, were ill-treated during arrest or shortly afterwards in an
attempt to extract confessions. In April, Moustapha Madou Abba Kiari was arrested in Difa,
near the border with Nigeria, and punched and kicked. He was accused of being
a member of Boko Haram and charged with terrorism offences. Search … AMNESTY
INTERNATIONAL For more
articles:: Search Amnesty
International’s website www.amnesty.org/en/search/?q=niger+torture&ref=&year=&lang=en&adv=1&sort=relevance [accessed 9 January 2019] Scroll
Down ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, March 8, 2006 www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61585.htm [accessed 6 February
2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61585.htm [accessed 4 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law
prohibits such practices, and unlike in previous years, there were no reports
that security forces beat and abused persons during the year. During the year the
appeals court of Niamey upheld the 2003 convictions of three paramilitary
policemen convicted of using excessive force during an investigation in 2002. Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 3 Civil
Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/niger [accessed 6 February
2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] The constitution provides
for an independent judiciary, and courts have shown some autonomy. However,
the system is overburdened and subject to executive and other interference.
Public prosecutors are supervised by the Ministry of Justice, and the
president has the power to appoint judges. Judicial corruption is fueled
partly by low salaries and inadequate training. Although respect for human
rights has generally improved under President Mamadou
Tandja, prolonged pretrial detention is common, and
police forces are underfunded and poorly trained. Prisons are characterized
by overcrowding and poor health and sanitary conditions. Amnesty
International has reported that soldiers have arbitrarily detained and
executed civilians in the Agadez region in
retaliation for rebel attacks. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
for noncommercial, nonprofit, and educational use. PLEASE RESPECT COPYRIGHTS OF COMPONENT
ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century-
Niger", http://gvnet.com/torture/Niger.htm, [accessed <date>] |
