Niger’s appeals court on Monday
reportedly sentenced an exiled former presidential candidate, Hama Amadou to a
year in jail for child trafficking, the final ruling in a
long-running case that his lawyers have dismissed as politically
motivated.
Hama Amadou, the main challenger to
President Mahamadou Issoufou in last year’s presidential election,
has been living in France since last year when he left Niger for
health reasons just days before a run-off.
He has repeatedly denied charges that
he and his wife were part of a plot, including several others, to
falsely claim the parenthood of around 30 children from neighbouring
Nigeria who were to be sold on to wealthy couples in Niger.
The verdict was read in the absence of
Amadou’s lawyers, who had boycotted the trial in protest. The case
was initially dropped by a Niger court in 2015, but was reinstated by
the appeals court later in the year.
Issoufou took power in April 2011, and
has worked closely with Western nations to boost security in the
vast, arid Sahel region where Islamist militants are intensifying
their insurgency.
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