Niger

workers and their families. Additionally, between mid-July and mid-December the Observatory received reports of 943 aggressions.

In October, the National Assembly approved the Law for the Regulation of Foreign Agents and the Special Law on Cyber-crimes. The following month, the National Assembly approved, on first reading, a reform of the Constitution that would allow lifetime imprisonment. In the current context, there was a well-founded fear that these laws would be used to target people who speak out against repressive policies and call for respect for human rights.

In December, the Law for the Defence of the Rights of the People to Independence, Sovereignty and Self-Determination for Peace was approved by the Assembly. The same month, the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States stated that this law seeks to restrict political rights and jeopardize fundamental rights enshrined in international instruments.

Hundreds of people have been incarcerated since April 2018 for the free exercise of their rights. By December, local organizations reported that more than 100 of them remained in prison. Arbitrary arrests and detentions of political activists were reported even during the pandemic.

Additionally, political activists released from prison reported harassment and surveillance by the authorities and progovernment groups. As of early December, at least 31 people held for political reasons had been re-arrested after being released, according to local organizations.

Local NGOs and communities continued to report the presence of non-Indigenous settlers on their lands, as well as threats and attacks by settlers. Despite the fact that some of the attacks resulted in deaths of Indigenous people, according to local organizations and media reports, no special protection measures were put in place by the government to establish responsibility for the killings or to prevent future attacks.

1. Nicaragua: Government increases risk of COVID-19 infection in a country already devastated by two years of crisis (Press release, 16

April)

2. Nicaragua: International organizations call on president Ortega to stop harassment and arbitrary dismissals of health workers (Press release, 17 June)

3. Prison and the pandemic: The lethal cocktail used by the Nicaraguan government against those who criticize them (Press release, 10

August)

4. ‘She doesn’t want to die there’: Women activists punished with jail in

Nicaragua amid COVID-19 (Press release, 14 August)

Republic of Niger Head of state: Mahamadou Issoufou Head of government: Brigi Rafini

Presidential and legislative elections were held in December. The National Commission for Political Dialogue acceded to opposition demands by rescheduling local elections to December, but differences persisted over the composition of the Independent National Electoral Commission and the electoral enrolment of Nigeriens abroad.

In February, a Ministry of Defence audit of government contracts was leaked and revealed allegations of misuse of defence funds within the Ministry. Opposition and civil society members responded with demands

that those suspected of being involved be held accountable.

The government declared a state of emergency on 27 March to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. On 30 March, the authorities released 1,540 prisoners to ease overcrowding and thereby reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection. One of those released was Hama Amadou, an opposition leader.

Journalists, human rights defenders and civil society activists were arrested after they demanded government accountability in connection with the leaked Ministry of Defence audit, or otherwise criticized government measures to control the spread of COVID-19. The authorities used the 2019 Cybercriminality Act to arrest people for exercising their right to freedom of expression.

In March, police arrested Mamane Kaka Touda, a journalist, for “disseminating data likely to disturb public order” after he posted a Facebook message which warned about a potential COVID-19 case in the Niamey General Hospital. In the same month, he was convicted by a court in the capital, Niamey, and received a three-month suspended sentence. In April, the same charges were used against Mahaman Lawali Mahaman Nassourou, a member of the Network of Organizations for Transparency and Budgetary Analysis (ROTAB) after he shared a WhatsApp message from a religious organization which denounced the closure of places of worship in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He was detained for one month and provisionally released on 25 May.

Also, in April, Ali Idrissa, the ROTAB Coordinator, was arrested and charged with defamation and “disseminating data likely to disturb public order” for posting a message on Facebook about the involvement of military officers in the misuse of defence funds. He was released without charge after five days.

In June, Samira Sabou, a journalist, was subject to the same charges after the President’s son complained about a comment on his role in the alleged misuse of defence funds, which had been made by another user on her Facebook page. In July, the Niamey High Court dismissed the charges and she was released after 48 days in detention.

In May, the National Assembly voted to pass the Interception of Electronic Communications law which authorized the government to intercept electronic communications for the purpose of national security and threatened to seriously undermine the rights to privacy and freedom of expression. The law did not provide for an independent authority to sanction surveillance requests, or for a body which could adequately oversee interceptions.

On 13 March, the government banned all gatherings of over 1,000 people as a measure to control the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. On 15 March, security forces brutally suppressed a demonstration in Niamey organized by civil society organizations which called for an investigation into the audit that revealed the Defence Ministry had misused funds. Security forces prevented the protesters’ access to a venue where they intended to hold their demonstration and fired tear gas to disperse them, resulting in a fire at Tagabati market in which three people died.

Six of the organizers were arrested in the following days on trumped-up charges including complicity in the damage of public property, arson and manslaughter. On 1 May, three of them, Moussa Tchangari, the General Secretary of Alternative Espaces Citoyens, Habibou Soumaila, member of Tournons La Page Niger (TLP Niger) and Sani Chekaraou, President of the Niamey Wholesalers’ Association, were provisionally released. On 29 September, the remaining three, Maikoul Zodi, Co-ordinator of TLP Niger, Halidou Mounkaila of the teachers’