NIGER: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH RESEARCHER DETAINED

C O N F I D E N T I A L NIAMEY 000499 SENSITIVE SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/14/2013 TAGS: PHUM CASC NG SUBJECT: NIGER: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH RESEARCHER DETAINED REF: 07 NIAMEY 1432 Classified By: Donald W, Koran, DCM, reasons 1.4 (b/d) ¶1. (SBU) Corinne Dufka, Human Rights Watch Senior Researcher for West Africa, called DCM at 8:20 the morning of May 14 to report that gendarmes were outside her hotel room. Dufka had been in Niger since May 5 looking into human rights issues. She had met with the Ambassador, DCM and the USAID development coordinator on May 7 and was scheduled to have lunch with them on May 14 to brief them on her trip before returning to Dakar that evening. She had last visited Niamey in December (reftel). ¶2. (C) DCM, RSO and FSNI went to Dufka's hotel. There were several gendarmes in the hallway, but they did not prevent the Embassy staff from entering Dufka's room. Dufka was e-mailing and then deleting notes from her computer to avoid them falling into the gendarmes hands and possibly incriminating her contacts. She was also concerned about her notebook, which she gave to the DCM. At that point, she let the Gendarmes into her room. Rather than search the room as they had told Dufka they wished to do, they took Dufka to the gendarmerie headquarters. ¶3. (SBU) Embassy staff also went to the Gendarme headquarters to inquire about the situation. The DCM asked the officer in charge, who identified himself as Captain Issoufou, about the situation, and specifically whether Dufka was being detained and charged. Issoufou explained that a person of interest to the Nigerien authorities had visited Dufka at her hotel, which prompted their interest in Dufka. He downplayed the seriousness of the situation, saying that Dufka should be able to make her 1230 lunch at the DCR. The DCM reminded Issoufou of his consular notification responsibilities. As the Embassy staff was meeting with Issoufou, several other Gendarmes left the headquarters with Dufka, apparently to return to the hotel to search Dufka's room. ¶4. (SBU) When Dufka did not appear at the lunch, the FSNI contacted the gendarmes to inquire about her whereabouts. When they said that Dufka was still being held, the consular officer went to the Gendarme headquarters where he was able to meet with Dufka. Dufka said that the gendarmes had told her that they would not release her until she provided them the names of people she met and gave them her notes. She asked the consular officer to notify several people about her situation. She did not complain about mistreatment, and said the gendarmes were acting in a professional manner. ¶5. (C) The DATT contacted the head of the gendarmerie, who said that Dufka was being held on the Interior Minister's orders. (Note: the Gendarmerie falls under the Defense Ministry. Normally the police, who fall under the Interior Ministry, handle criminal investigations in urban areas, although the Gendarmes have taken on that role in issues involving national security since the rebellion began last year.) ¶6. (C) The Ambassador contacted the Foreign Minister, who claimed to be unaware of the incident, but promised to look into it. ¶7. (C) At Dufka's request, the consular officer contacted Nigerien President Tandja's nephew in Senegal regarding the case. The nephew said he would try to contact Tandja. ¶8. (U) Consular officer will provide further details in consular channels. ALLEN