Human rights defender sentenced to jail

The president of Niger's human rights league, Bagnou Bonkoukou, was on Thursday sentenced to a one-year jail term and a 20,000 CFA francs fine (US $30), in a case revolving around last month's mutiny in the country. Bonkoukou was arrested on 15 August, a few days after citing a higher death toll during a radio broadcast than the government had declared. According to the authorities in Niger, Bonkoukou was arrested in violation of a decree by President Mamadou Tandja which forbade the dissemination of information about the mutiny. The decree has since been lifted. Soldiers started the mutiny (in Diffa, eastern Niger, and in the capital, Niamey) on 31 July, demanding better pay and living conditions. They also attempted to take over army barracks. On 9 August, the government announced that it quelled the uprising. Bonkoukou had also said on radio that the government of Niger should allow international investigators to look into the failed mutiny. A court sentenced the human rights defender on Thursday after finding him guilty of "false information and dissemination of information in nature to ruin the moral of the armed forces", sources said.