In a rare development, a senior state prosecutor in Niger Republic has announced that 17 members of the violent Islamist movement, Boko Haram, have been sentenced to between two and seven years in jail, with hard labour.
According to the prosecutor, Chaibu Samna, who spoke to reporters in Niamey, “Out of the 42 suspects on trial, 17 got between two and seven years in prison and 21 others were released at the end of a six-day trial in the southeastern Diffa region.
He said the trial of four other suspected members of the Boko Haram movement, which is widely believed to have originated in Nigeria and which has launched bloody attacks in neighbouring countries, was postponed until mid-October.
Another source said the men held for trial included Niger nationals and Malians as well as Nigerians, accused of “criminal association connected with a terrorist group”. The source explained that some of the men were “captured during fighting” or during security checks carried out under a state of emergency imposed on the Diffa region, across the border from Nigeria.
The first trials of Boko Haram suspects in Niger were held in the capital Niamey in March 2017. Some were convicted and jailed for up to nine years, while others were acquitted for lack of evidence.
The trials were moved this year to Diffa, which has endured many Boko Haram attacks since February 2015. The arrested men were transferred in from Niamey and the two southwestern towns of Kollo and Koutoukale.
