Some thirty figures, including Nobel Peace Prize laureates Denis Mukwege and Wole Soginka, have called for the release of Niger’s former president, Mohamed Bazoum, who remains in custody since the military coup that overthrew him in July 2023, with an article co-signed and published yesterday Sunday by the French newspaper Le Monde.

The authors of this appeal note that Mr Bazum and his wife Andiza, who also remains in detention, are “victims of arbitrary imprisonment” which has “extremely painful consequences” for their family and “certainly for Nigerians”. in total.

Since the military coup of July 26, 2023, when General Abduraman Ciani, the former commander of the presidential guard, a close associate of the former president, seized power, the couple has been kept under “strict surveillance by armed men”, without “any communication with the outside world”, under “very strict” conditions, point out the authors, who also include the writer Asil Bebe from Cameroon and Kenneth Roth, the former director of Human Rights Watch (HRW).

They emphasize that until today “no charges” have been brought against the former president, nor has any explanation been given “for his detention”, which is being extended.

They consider instead that by depriving him of his freedom “the coup plotters mean that President Bazum will pay the price for his determined fight for freedoms and the rule of law” and “even more, the price for his fight against corruption and abuse of public funds”.

They appeal to “politicians in Africa and the world” to demand “the release of the democratically elected head of state” who according to them has always acted with “the common good of the Nigerian people in mind”.

Since gaining independence from colonial power France in 1960, Niger has experienced five military coups and two attempted coups.

When they took power more than a year ago, the military cited the deteriorating security situation.

But attacks by jihadist organizations have escalated: according to the non-governmental organization ACLED, some 1,500 people, military and civilians, have lost their lives in the last year, compared to 650 in the period from July 2022 to the corresponding month of 2023.