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BAMAKO, Mali — Imprisoned opposition politicians were sent to prisons across Mali this week, their families said, a move human rights groups condemned as another step backwards for the country, where the ruling military junta has suspended all political activity.
Mali, a landlocked country in the semi-arid Sahel region, has been mired in the political turmoil that has engulfed West and Central Africa over the past decade. The country has seen two military coups since 2020 as an insurgency by jihadist groups linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State intensified. The military junta rules the country with an iron fist and suspended all political activity earlier this year.
Mali’s National Human Rights Commission said in a statement that the 11 opposition politicians were arrested earlier this month at a meeting at a private residence.
The committee condemned what it called “arbitrary arrests” and “intrusions into private homes.”
A family member of one of the detainees, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals from authorities, said on Wednesday that they were being split into two groups, one to Koulikoro prison, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Bamako, and the other to a new prison, 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Bamako.
Judicial officials said the dissidents were charged with assault and conspiracy against the government, opposing legitimate authorities and disrupting public order but have not yet been tried.
Ousmane Diallo, the Sahel researcher for human rights group Amnesty International in Dakar, said the arrests showed a “pattern of violations of civil and political rights” in Mali since February.
“We condemn the repression of Malian opposition politicians, the dissolution of political parties and the suspension of all political activity. We condemn any possibility that the security and BroadCast Unitedligence services would use force to suppress the political expression of Malian citizens,” Diallo said.
In April, the military junta issued a decree suspending the activities of all political parties and “political associations” on the grounds of maintaining social order. The political parties have appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, but it is unclear when the appeal will be heard.
Experts say it has become increasingly dangerous to express discontent with Mali’s authorities and those who speak out could be arrested. Journalists and activists have also disappeared, only to return later, while many media journalists have left Mali because they are not allowed to work.
Alioune Tine, founder of the research institute AfrikaJom Center and a UN human rights expert on Mali, said the military junta was pushing the country into a “political deadlock.” “The complex security crisis can be solved by uniting the Malian people and respecting political and democratic pluralism, but not by arbitrarily suppressing all political dissent.”
Earlier this month, the anti-junta political party alliance “March 31 Call” called on citizens to demonstrate to protest against electricity shortages and high costs of living in Bamako and demand the restoration of constitutional order.
Only one person showed up to cover the event — a young social media activist named Yeri Bocoum.
The next day, Bokum wrote on Facebook that he was being followed and threatened by unknown men. A day later, on June 8, he was abducted as he left his home in the military stronghold of Kati.
“He left his home at 2 p.m. on June 8, and a few hundred meters away, armed men arrested him and asked locals who witnessed the scene to go home and close their doors,” his sister, Kadidia Bocoum, told The Associated Press. “His kidnappers took him and his car away.”
Bokum said his family sought help from authorities but had not heard from him since.
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