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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