Chad - 2015 Coup Attempt
Chad is a centralized republic in which the executive branch dominates the legislature and judiciary. Civilian authorities at times did not maintain effective control of the security forces. Human rights issues included arbitrary killings by the government or its agents; torture by security forces; arbitrary and incommunicado detention by the government; harsh and potentially life-threatening prison conditions; denial of fair public trial; political prisoners; censorship of the press and restrictions on access to social network sites by the government; arrest and detention of persons for defamation by the government; substantial interference with the rights of peaceful assembly and freedom of association; significant restrictions on freedom of movement; restrictions on political participation; corruption; violence against women, including rape and female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), with government negligence a factor; criminalization of same-sex sexual conduct; and child labor including forced and other worst forms; and trafficking in persons, particularly children.
The government of the Central African republic of Chad said it prevented a putsch set to take place on 01 May 2015. The coup was in the works since December 2012, but Chadian security agencies were aware of conspirators’ plans from the beginning and prevented them from taking action, the government said Wednesday. The governmental communique did not identify any suspects, saying only that they were detained and handed over to prosecutors. Media reports named lawmaker Saleh Makki of the oppositional National Union for Democracy and Renewal party among those detained.
Authorities arrested and beat journalists. For example, on 02 October 2015, security forces arrested without warrant Stephane Mbairabe Ouaye, publisher of Haut Parleur, an independent newspaper published twice a month. While held in a detention center attached to the N’Djamena police headquarters, Mbairabe was handcuffed, blindfolded, and beaten by plainclothes police to make him reveal his sources for an article entitled “Salay Deby, national thief”; the article criticized the president and his brother, Director General of Customs Salay Deby. Mbairabe, who was released, was awaiting trial on libel charges at year’s end. In a separate case in July, after publication of an article entitled “Itno Brothers Maintain the Dictatorship,” Mbairabe received a court summons “in order to find him guilty of the charges against him and order him to pay Salay Deby such amount as will be fixed at the bar.” Commenting on the July case, Reporters without Borders (RSF) stated, “It is a strange summons to a hearing that predicts the defendant’s guilt in advance.”
On 10 July 2015, an N’Djamena judge ordered the closure of the weekly Abba Garde at the request of the High Council for Communication (HCC), which acted in response to a complaint by the President’s Office, according to RSF. A separate court order issued the same day demanded the seizure of all copies of issue No. 109. Both orders, according to RSF, appeared to be in response to an article entitled “Idriss Deby, the Hitler of Modern Times,” which was published in issue No. 108. Commenting on the closure, RSF noted, “Regardless of what the journalist wrote, the decision to close the newspaper contravenes Chad’s 2010 press law, article 44 of which states that such a decision can only be taken by a court after a hearing in which the affected party is able to defend itself.” RSF also noted that the seizure was clearly arbitrary, since it was the preceding issue that had the offending article. According to Moussaye Avenir de la Tchire, the publisher of Abba Garde, harassment of the newspaper began on July 5, when ANS members tried to arrest him in the southeastern town of Bongor. De la Tchire, who fled the country for one month and then returned, had been arrested and detained for four months in 2013.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
