WA 33/04

AFR 43/001/2004

15 August 2004

Niger: Abolish the death penalty in Niger

No executions have been carried out in Niger since 1976. Despite the fact that the prime minister declared in August 2002 that he was against the death penalty all of the criminal codes adopted since then have maintained the death penalty. Moreover, Amnesty International learnt that the Niamey Criminal court sentenced Yahaya Moussa Diarra to death in his absence for murder and night robbery by forcible entry on the 23^rd February 2004.

Take action:

Write to the President, asking for:

• The ratification of the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Dear President,

I am writing in the context of the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty in the Economic Community of the West African States (ECOWAS) countries and Mauritania, launched by Amnesty International on 10 October 2003.

Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 – the first international standard to provide that “everyone has the right to life” - more than two-thirds of countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. The same trend exists in West Africa where, in more than a decade, the number of abolitionist countries has increased from 1 to 10. Two-thirds of the 15 ECOWAS countries have taken decisive steps towards recognition of the inviolability of the right to life.

Despite the fact that no execution has been carried out in Niger since 1976, death sentences continue to be pronounced by the judiciary, most recently in February 2004. This is why I am asking you to do everything in your power to definitively abolish the death penalty in your country by ratifying the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This would demonstrate the importance you grant to the right to life.

Yours sincerely,

President:

His Excellency

Mamadou Tandja

Palais Présidentiel

Niamey

Tel : +227 722 381

Salutation: Dear President,