Niger’s deposed president was imprisoned by former security guards in a remote wing of his house, pacing a bedroom with no direct sunlight, cut off from the world and unable to speak to his lawyers, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.
Nine months after he was ousted in a recent coup that swept West Africa, Mohamed Bazoum has been lingering in detention with no end in sight. His lawyers say the military junta that deposed him is seeking to strip him of presidential immunity, paving the way for him to be prosecuted on charges including treason, for which the penalty could be life in prison.
He was stuck with his wife, Hadiza, and two domestic workers, without access to a phone or access to his lawyer, other family members or friends, according to members of his inner circle. His only visitor was a doctor who brought him food once a week.
The once loud calls for his release have quieted. Many of Bazoum’s closest allies – members of his cabinet and advisers – have been jailed or forced to flee Niger.
Some of Mr. Bazoum’s closest international partners are exiting. The United States is preparing to evacuate about 1,000 troops stationed at the country’s desert air base at the request of the military junta. France, a long-time partner in the fight against al-Qaeda and the Islamic State extremist group, left in December.
Instead, about 100 Russian military instructors arrived in the capital, Niamey, in April as Niger’s new leaders turned to Moscow for security assistance.
“Gradually, this man is being forgotten in all these geopolitical moves,” said Reed Brody, a prominent human rights lawyer representing Mr. Bazoum.
The military leader who took over Niger accuses him of failing to protect the country from Islamist insurgents, but most analysts say political competition is the real reason and Niger has done better than its neighbors at containing armed insurgents. .
Soldiers have seized power in several West and Central African countries over the past four years, restricting personal freedoms, delaying the return of civilian rule and persecuting opponents, including the president they once served but who was later ousted. .
But Mr. Bazoum’s ordeal stands out.He has been stripped of power but remains at the heart of it because General Abdourahmane Tchiani, the top military official who overthrew him and now rules Niger, imprisoned him in the presidential palace just a few hundred feet from his presidential office.
“Tiani’s power depends in part on Bazoum’s detention,” said Amadou Ange Chekaraou Barou, a close adviser to Bazoum. “Bazoum was like a shield to him.”
Niger’s military junta did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Bazoum, 64, has refused to resign, but international partners now refer to him as the former leader. A U.S. State Department spokesperson said in April, “We continue to call for the release of former President Bazoum and those unjustly detained during the July 2023 military coup.”
He is scheduled for a hearing on May 10 that could strip him of presidential immunity, his attorneys said. That could lead to him being indicted on charges including treason, as he is accused of trying to escape in October; supporting terrorism, saying in interviews while he was president that Islamic militants know the battlefield better than the military; and conspiring to endanger national security, He was accused of asking foreign powers to release him shortly after the coup.
Moussa Coulibaly, a lawyer representing Bazoum at the Niamey hearing, declined to say whether the former president had attempted to escape and accused the junta of trying to make his illegal detention appear legitimate.
During the first months of his captivity, Mr. Bazoum was held with his wife. their 22-year-old son, Salem; and two migrant domestic workers at the presidential palace. They had no power but were able to roam the house as guards and others in armed pickup trucks surrounded the house.
However, a member of Bazoum’s close circle said the house quickly turned into a giant oven. The person said outdoor temperatures reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit, causing the prisoners’ skin to peel. Ms. Bazoum also suffered from severe malaria.
After accusing Bazoum of trying to escape in October, the junta further restricted his movements, trapping him, his family and domestic workers in one wing of the mansion. Soldiers were now stationed inside the house and removed keys from the interior doors so Mr Bazoum could not lock the door for privacy. There was electricity, but soldiers confiscated all phones, according to people interviewed in his inner circle.
Mr. Bazoum exercised every day on an indoor bicycle and read Marxist theory, Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” and Tolstoy’s “War and Peace.” His relatives and closest advisers had hoped he would be released by Christmas or during Eid al-Fitr in April. His son was released this year.
But with the former president still trapped in a bedroom once used by one of his children, they say his next step could be jail time.
“Prison has always been something he considered throughout his political career,” said a member of Bazoum’s close circle.
Mr. Bazoum, a former high school philosophy teacher, was elected president of Niger in 2021 and quickly made the country one of the top recipients of foreign aid in West Africa. He has tackled corruption and vowed to send more girls to school, in part to limit early pregnancies in a country with the world’s highest birth rate. He worked closely with China and built one of Africa’s longest oil pipelines, which the junta launched this year.
He has sought help from the United States and European countries in fighting extremist groups and purchased drones from Turkey, while also conducting semi-secret negotiations with the militants.
He welcomed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to the capital. European envoys including the Prince of Denmark and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also visited.
“Bazoum is seen as the best partner and Western leaders are very attached to him,” said Jean-Hervé Jezeker, director of the International Crisis Group’s program for the Sahel region, which includes Niger. But he said “so far this popularity has not yielded results in securing Mr. Bazoum’s release”.
The United States and European countries have remained divided for months over how best to free him from Niger’s military junta and encourage a return to civilian rule, according to three senior Western officials responsible for Niger. France pushed for military intervention; the United States rejected the idea.
Now, Niger has kicked those two countries out and introduced Russia.
Bazoum’s senior adviser, Baru, said he had little hope of winning freedom from the current military junta. “In Niger’s history,” he said, “detained presidents are never released until the soldiers who overthrew them are expelled.”
