Young Nigerien internet users prefer to remain discreet
Boulevard de la Jeunesse, Yantala Ancien district, Niamey, Niger.
© Wikimedia
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
In Niger, political tension is still high, as the country awaits the Supreme Court's judgment on the validity of the provisional results of the presidential election.
Last week, the public prosecutor announced that around 350 people would be prosecuted for their role in the violence of the post-election crisis.
According to their lawyers, some of these people were arrested for data disseminated on social networks.
Internet had been suspended for ten days, after the announcement of the provisional results.
And despite the return of the connection, some Nigeriens remain discreet on social networks, because they fear falling under the law against cybercrime.
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With our special
correspondent in Niamey,
Gaëlle Laleix
At the back of a cafe, a small group of young people are discussing.
This student says she is addicted to social networks, but since the
internet was reestablished
, she has spoken sparingly ...
“
I don't say what I think clearly, especially when it comes to politics.
If it doesn't get over to the authorities, we can look for you.
Because of that, now, I prefer to be silent.
"
Article 31 of the law against cybercrime states that "
the dissemination through an electronic means of communication of data likely to disturb public order is punishable by imprisonment
".
For Maître Moustapha Hamidou, president of the association of young lawyers of Niger, this article leaves too much room for interpretation, at the risk of being liberticidal: “
Instead of being a sanction law, it is a preventive law. .
Because the objective of the law is not to sanction acts which disturbed public order.
No!
We say "by nature", so we will enter into probabilities.
Could the act committed have such or such consequence
?
"
For Siraji Issa, president of the Youth Movement for the Emergence of Niger, a civil society association, it is necessary to supervise social networks.
“
Through social networks, people make ethno-centrist comments and spread hatred and disinformation.
There are limits to everything: for there to be a nation that respects itself, there must be laws that are also respected.
"
Contacted by RFI, the Ministry of Justice did not respond to our request.
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