Chad: blogger Tadjeddine Mahamat Babouri released after 16 months in detention

Blogger Tadjeddine Mahamat Babouri has been released after 16 months in detention in Chad.

Babouri was accused of criticising President Idriss Déby’s regime on social networks .The activist was kidnapped in mid-September 2016 by a handful of unknown men from the street in a broad day light operation.

A judicial source said having largely exceeded the maximum period of pre-trial detention, a Chadian judge ordered Babouri’s statutory release under the current procedural code.

His substantive case will be heard in two weeks.Babouri’s lawyers say they are “satisfied” with his release.

The lawyers added that Babouri was also initially arrested for “attacking constitutional order”, territorial integrity and intelligence with an insurrectional movement.

Several NGOs and civil society activists in Chad regularly denounce the rise of repression against activists.

AFP