Rights Reforms Crucial for Civilian Rule hrw: Mali
Mali's authorities should act to uphold fundamental freedoms and the rule of law during the new two-year timetable for transitioning to civilian rule, Human Rights Watch said today. They should promote respect for freedom of expression and the media, ensure due process rights for criminal suspects, and end torture and enforced disappearances.
Human Rights Watch researchers visited Bamako, Mali's capital, between June 29 and July 8, and met with 3 current and former detainees, detainees' family members, 3 lawyers, and 25 media professionals, civil society activists, political party members, and analysts.
The transitional government has increasingly restricted the United Nations peacekeeping mission, the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali. It has barred the peacekeepers from areas where government forces were implicated in abusive operations, such as the town of Moura, where Human Rights Watch documented serious abuses in March by the Malian army and foreign soldiers identified as Russian fighters.
In October 2021, the authorities arrested Issa Kaou N'djim, a well-known politician and vice president in the interim parliament, after he criticized the expulsion of an ECOWAS representative. He was released after two weeks, then convicted of insulting the state via social media. N'djim, though a supporter of interim President Goïta, has publicly criticized the prime minister.
The authorities have also detained people for their online expression. In May, four women; Sara Yara, Ramata Diabate, Dede Cisse, and Amy Cisse; were detained for their alleged involvement with a Facebook blog post that criticized the head of the state security agency, family members and lawyers for the women said. The women remained in custody despite a judge's ruling for conditional release in June, pending the prosecutor's appeal.