NIGER: ALLEGATIONS OF TORTURE

UNCLAS NIAMEY 000226 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM NG SUBJECT: NIGER: ALLEGATIONS OF TORTURE ¶1. (U) The Newspaper "Le Republicain" carried a front page article in its February 14-20 edition reporting the torture of a number of civilians by the security forces in Agadez. It recounts two specific cases. ¶2. (U) The first involves three cattle sellers who were detained on January 18. They claim to have been the victims of "cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment." One of the victims is reported to have given the following account to the Nigerien Association for the Defense of Human Rights (know by its French acronym ANDDH): "They whipped me several times and demanded that I show them where I placed the landmines; I swore to them in vain that I knew nothing. They then burned my feet with burning plastic." The article features two photos of a man with burned feet. ¶3. (U) The second incident cited concerns the alleged "torture and humiliation" of a young woman named Amina Ahandaga while being detained the night of January 15-16. She was reportedly suspected of being involved in the throwing of two grenades at a police station. She is quoted as saying: "When I was arrested the men took me to the police station. There they tied my wrists to my feet and passed an iron bar between my joined limbs before suspending me between two tables. I was only wearing a nightgown and underwear. One of them whipped and insulted me. They wanted me to recognize that it was me that threw the grenades. I swore that I had never seen a grenade. Another slapped me hard. Look at my back! I even showed the bruises to the prosecutor and I'm waiting for justice.... They then threw me in my cell completely naked. It took until the next morning when a nice officer returned my clothes." ¶4. (SBU) On February 19 the DCM and political assistant raised the above allegations with the head of the ANDDH, Khalid Ikhiri. Ikhiri noted that ANDDH's annual human rights report would be published soon. Its central theme will be torture. He confirmed that ANDDH received the testimony of the men cited in paragraph 2, but not the women cited in paragraph 3. He dismissed those reports as "nothing" in the sense that there are so many other similar cases and thQ cases cited are not special. Moreover, hQaid, many people are simply executed. ¶5. (SBU) Ikhiri complained that it is more difficult to investigate human rights issues now than it was during the rebellion of the early 1990s because of GON restrictions on travel in the north. The GON has also refused ANDDH's request to meet with the MNJ. ANDDH is waiting for a reply from the GON to its request to visit prisons. Ikhiri said that not everything on the MNJ blog is true, but the GON's lack of response to MNJ allegations leads people to believe those allegations. ¶6. (SBU) Comment: While both have their flaws, "Le Republicain" is one of the most respected private weekly publications in Niger and ANDDH is the leading Nigerien human rights group. ANDDH generally only makes statement that can be supported. It has received some USG assistance in the past. Interestingly, the MNJ web site has not mentioned the incidents cited in paragraphs 2 and 3 above. ALLEN