Boko Haram: Seventeen Members Bag Jail Terms In Niger

Trial Of Four Other Members Postponed Till October

Seventeen members of the terrorist group, Boko Haram, have been sentenced by a court in Niger to two and seven years in jail. The report was made known by the senior state prosecutor on Monday.

“Of 42 suspects on trial, 17 got between two and seven years in prison and 21 others were released” at the end of a six-day trial in the southeastern Diffa region, Chaibou Samna, prosecutor at the high court in Niamey, told Nigeria News.

The trial of four other suspected members of the jihadist movement was postponed until mid October, the attack by this suspects which took place in Nigeria also spread their attack to other neighbouring countries.

The men held for trial included Niger nationals and Malians as well as Nigerians, accused of “criminal association connected with a terrorist enterprise”, another judicial source said.

A source in the security force revealed that some of the suspects were caught during the fighting or during security checks carried out under the state emergency imposed on the Diffa region, across the border from Nigeria.

Boko Haram suspects, first trail took place in the capital Niamey in March 2017. The case saw some of the suspects jailed for up to nine years, while others were acquitted due to lack of evidence.

The trials this year was moved to Diffa, which has experienced many Boko Haram attacks since February 2015. Arrested members of the terriorist group were transferred in from Niamey, Kollo and Koutoukale.

The group is stated to have no base in Diffa, but was reported in 2015 to have tried to lure youths to join the jihadists. The movement was revealed to have offered up to 300,000 CFA francs (almost 460 euros/$540) per month.

Since December 2016, 200 Niger nationals have left Boko Haram and turned themselves into authorities in Diffa.

They are interned in a camp where they undergo rehabilitation before being allowed to return to their families under an amnesty.