“The convictions pronounced under this law and their effects shall be annulled,” Niger’s junta leader, General Abdourahmane Tchiani, said in a 25 November decree, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press on Monday.
All those convicted under the law will be considered for release by the justice ministry, Ibrahim Jean Etienne, the secretary general of the justice ministry, said in the circular.
The repeal of the law adds a new twist to growing political tensions between Niger and EU countries, which imposed sanctions on the West African nation in response to the July coup that deposed its democratically elected president and brought the junta to power.
Niger’s Agadez region is a gateway from West Africa to the Sahara and has been a key route both for Africans trying to reach Libya to cross the Mediterranean to Europe and for those returning home with the help of the United Nations.
But the route has also become a lucrative place for people smugglers, prompting Niger’s government to work with the European Union to sign the 2015 law to stop the movement of at least 4,000 undocumented migrants that the UN estimates pass through Agadez every week.
The law empowered security forces and the courts to prosecute smugglers, who face up to five years in prison if convicted.
While the law has turned Niger into a migration hub, with thousands of migrants being returned to their countries, the UN Human Rights Office has also noted that it ‘has led migrants to seek increasingly dangerous migration routes, increasing the risk of human rights violations’.
Following the 26 July coup that deposed Niger’s President Mohamed Bazoum, Western and European countries suspended health, security and infrastructure aid to the country, which is heavily dependent on foreign support as one of the world’s least developed countries.
Instead of deterring the soldiers who deposed Bazoum, the sanctions have caused economic hardship for Nigerians and emboldened the junta. It has set up a transitional government that could stay in power for up to three years.