Niger: Emergency legislation infringes non-derogable human rights

Amnesty International has received corroborating information about the arbitrary arrest of dozens of civilians in the Agadez region, in the north of the country, some of whom have allegedly been tortured. [...] They were transferred yesterday to the capital, Niamey, without having had the opportunity to see a lawyer and without their families knowing the charges made against them. [...] These violations, banned under international law, follow the decree issued by the President of Niger, Mamadou Tandja, on 24 August 2007, which announced a "mise en garde" (state of alert) in the Agadez region for a period of three months and gave the army and the police apparently unlimited powers. [...] Amnesty International is deeply concerned that the law issuing this "mise en garde" (Law 2002-30 of 31 December 2002 on the general organization of national defence) does not specify any of the powers granted to the security forces in this type of situation. [...] The law only defines "mise en garde" as "appropriate measures to ensure the government’s freedom to act, reduce the vulnerability of populations or important infrastructure and guarantee the security of armed forces mobilisations and operations." These vague provisions have allowed the security forces to arrest civilians in their own homes at any hour of the day or night.