Opposition activists arrested in Mali crackdown transferred to prison, families say

BAMAKO, Mali — Opposition politicians arrested during a crackdown in Mali were sent to prisons across the country this week, their families said, in a move decried by rights groups like a new step backward for the country where the ruling junta has suspended all political activity. activities.

Mali, a landlocked country in the semi-arid Sahel region, is mired in the political instability that has swept West and Central Africa over the past decade. The country has seen two military coups since 2020 as the insurgency by jihadist groups linked to Al-Qaida and the Islamic State group has worsened. The junta has ruled the country with an iron fist and earlier this year suspended all political activities.

The 11 opposition politicians were arrested earlier this month during a meeting at a private residence, the Malian National Human Rights Commission, a government agency, said in a statement, denouncing what it called “arbitrary arrests” and “violations of private homes.”

A family member of one of the detainees said Wednesday they had been divided into two groups, one sent to Koulikoro prison, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Bamako, and the other to a new prison 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Bamako. The family member spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from authorities.

The dissidents are detained for disturbing public order but have not yet been tried, a judicial official said.

Ousmane Diallo, a researcher on the Sahel region at Amnesty International, a Dakar-based rights group, said the arrests demonstrated “the pattern of abuse of civil and political rights” in Mali since February.

“We denounce the repression against opponents in Mali, the dissolution of political parties and the suspension of all political activities,” Diallo said. “We denounce how security and intelligence services and sheer force have been used to suppress any opportunity for Malian citizens to share their political opinions. »

In April, the junta issued a decree suspending all activities of political parties and “associations of a political nature” in the name of maintaining public order. Political parties have appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, but it is unclear when this appeal will be heard.

Expressing discontent with Malian authorities is becoming increasingly dangerous, experts say, as those who speak out risk arrest or kidnapping. Journalists and activists have also disappeared, only to return later, while many media correspondents have left Mali because they were not allowed to work.

The junta is pushing the country toward “a political impasse,” said Alioune Tine, founder of the AfrikaJom Center, a research organization and a United Nations expert on human rights in Mali. “The complex security crisis can be resolved by bringing Malians together, respecting political and democratic pluralism, but not by dogmatically resorting to repression against all political dissent.”

Earlier this month, a coalition of political parties opposed to the junta, Appel du 31 Mars, called on citizens to demonstrate against Bamako's electricity shortage and the high cost of living, and to demand a return to the constitutional order.

Only one person showed up to cover the event: Yeri Bocoum, a young social media activist.

The next day, Bocoum wrote on Facebook that he was followed by unidentified men and threatened. The next day, June 8, as he left his home in the town of Kati, a stronghold of the junta, he was kidnapped.

“He left his house on June 8 at 2 p.m. and, a few hundred meters away, armed men stopped him and asked the residents who were watching to go home and close their doors,” his statement said. sister, Kadidia Bocoum, to The Associated Press. “The men who kidnapped him took him away in his car.”

The family contacted authorities but has not heard from them since, Bocoum said.