NIGER: ARBITRARY DETENTION OF PRESIDENT BAZOUM AND HIS WIFE

The International League Against Arbitrary Detention urges the Government of Niger to take all necessary actions to implement the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention Opinion No. 56/2024 concerning Mohamed Bazoum and Hadiza Bazoum, asking the Government of Niger to immediately and unconditionally release them and to accord them an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.

Read the full WGAD opinion concerning Mohamed Bazoum and Hadiza Bazoum (Niger): Opinion No. 56/2024.

DETENTION OF THE PRESIDENT AND HIS WIFE

Mohamed Bazoum is a Nigerien citizen born in 1960. He was elected President of the Republic of Niger on March 22, 2021 and took office on April 2, 2021. Hadiza Bazoum is his wife, a Nigerien citizen born in 1968. They normally reside at the Presidential Palace of Niger, in Niamey.

According to the source, a coup was organised by a member of the Presidential Guard on July 26, 2023, and a Colonel Major declared that he had overthrown the President. A National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland (Conseil national pour la sauvegarde de la patrie), with the Colonel Major as its President, was set up on the same day to govern Niger.

On July 26, 2023, Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum were reportedly arrested without being informed of the reasons for their arrest, and then detained in a part of the Presidential Palace. According to the source, the President of the National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland ordered their arrest and detention. Since then, the members of the National Council have reportedly remained indifferent to calls from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and several States and international organisations, to release Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum, whose detention violates regional and international law.

Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum reportedly only had access to a lawyer until October 19, 2023, when their cellphone was confiscated. Since then, their only contact with the outside world has been the doctor who visits them every week. The source deplored the conditions in which Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum were reportedly being held.

A procedure to lift Mr. Bazoum's immunity to prosecute him for ‘plots and attacks aimed at undermining State security or the authority of the State’, ‘treason’, ‘apology for and incitement to terrorism’ and ‘financing of terrorism’ is said to have taken place before the Court of State, a newly created court by the National Council for the Safeguarding of the Homeland. This procedure would have resulted in the lifting of Mr. Bazoum's immunity on June 14, 2024 under the law establishing the applicable regime to the pension of former Presidents.

The Government of Niger was given the opportunity to respond to the source's allegations, which it did in September 2024.

ARRESTED WITHOUT LEGAL BASIS AND INCOMMUNICADO DETENTION

Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum were allegedly arrested and detained without a warrant and without being informed of the reasons for their detention, the source claiming that the detention had no legal basis. The government replied that Mr. Bazoum was being held for acts amounting to plots and attacks against state security and intelligence with foreign powers to harm the country's strategic interests. However, in the absence of a precise response from the government regarding the issuance of a warrant or the circumstances in which Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum were informed of the charges against them, the Working Group considered that their arrest lacked a legal basis and was therefore in violation of Article 9 (2) of the Covenant and Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Moreover, according to the source, Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum had not been able to have recourse to a judicial authority in the days following their arrest, as they had not been brought before a judge since their arrest. In the absence of any response from the Government on this matter, the Working Group considered this allegation to be credible and thus concluded to a violation of Article 9 (3) of the Covenant.

Finally, the source argued that Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum had been held incommunicado, with no possibility of communication with the outside world.  Indeed, apart from weekly visits from their doctor, they have had no proper contact with their lawyer, whom Mr. Bazoum was only able to meet on 28 August 2024, i.e. more than a year after the start of his detention, which goes against their guarantee of being able to challenge their detention. In view of the Government's failure to respond on this point, the Working Group considered that the source had demonstrated a violation of article 9 (4) of the Covenant.

Accordingly, the Working Group concluded that the arrest and detention of Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum were arbitrary under category I.

DETAINED BECAUSE OF HIS CAPACITY AS PRESIDENT

According to the source, Mr. Bazoum's detention was arbitrary because it stemmed from the exercise of a protected right, namely the right to take part in the conduct of his country's public affairs and to be elected. The Government justified his detention on the grounds that Mr. Bazoum had had exchanges with foreign powers after his disqualification in view of sponsoring an attack. Those facts being subsequent to his arrest, the Working Group agreed that Mr. Bazoum had been arrested and detained by virtue of his status as President. Thus, his arrest and detention were in violation of the above-mentioned rights guaranteed by article 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 25 of the Covenant, without any of the authorized restrictions on these rights being applicable.

Thus, the Working Group concluded that Mr. Bazoum's deprivation of liberty was arbitrary under category II. The source's allegations concerning Mrs. Bazoum were, however, considered under category V.

VIOLATIONS OF THE RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL

The source claimed that serious violations of Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum's right to a fair trial had led to the arbitrary nature of their detention. First of all, Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum were allegedly not provided with legal assistance at the beginning of their detention, nor were they able to communicate with a lawyer afterwards. Secondly, they have not been tried within a reasonable time. In the absence of a clear response from the Government on these points, the Working Group was convinced by the source's allegations that there had been a violation of the guarantees provided for in article 14 of the Covenant and articles 10 and 11 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, in this case the right to be assisted by counsel of one's choice and to be tried within a reasonable time and without undue delay.

In conclusion, the Working Group found that the detention of Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum was arbitrary under category III.

DISCRIMINATED AGAINST AS THE WIFE OF THE PRESIDENT

With regard to Mrs. Bazoum, the source claimed that she had been detained because of her status as Mr. Bazoum's wife. In its reply, the Government did not provide any grounds for the arrest and detention of Mrs. Bazoum but simply argued that her detention could not be arbitrary since she had chosen to remain by her husband's side. Recalling that no one may be deprived of his or her liberty for crimes committed by a member of his or her family, the Working Group concluded that Mrs. Bazoum's arrest and detention resulted from her status as Mr. Bazoum's wife, in violation of her right to non-discrimination, enshrined in article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and article 26 of the Covenant. Nevertheless, the Working Group was not in a position to comment on the source's allegation that Mrs. Bazoum had been detained for exercising her right to freedom of movement.

Consequently, Mrs. Bazoum's detention was arbitrary under category V.

CONCLUSIONS OF THE WORKING GROUP ON ARBITRARY DETENTION

In light of the above, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that Mohamed Bazoum and Hadiza Bazoum’s deprivation of liberty was arbitrary and fell under categories I, II, III, and V, as it violated articles 3, 7, 9, 10, 11 and 21 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and articles 9, 14, 25 and 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Working Group requested the Nigerien Government to conduct a thorough investigation into the circumstances of these violations. In addition, the Working Group recommended that the Nigerian Government take all necessary measures to remedy Mr. and Mrs. Bazoum's situation without delay and bring it into compliance with relevant international standards. The Working Group considered that, taking into account all the circumstances of the case, the appropriate solution would be to immediately release them and grant them an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.