Twenty-nine prisoners suffocated to death in a cell into which they were forced by guards after a riot at the main prison in Niger's capital, Niamey, news organisations reported on Tuesday.
They were among some 50 inmates whom guards had forced into the windowless cell after they protested against their conditions of detention, Reuters reported. It quoted a prison official as saying that they died from lack of air.
AFP reported that the deaths occurred on Thursday and were reported on Monday by a private radio station.
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