W.Africa court orders deposed Niger president be freed immediately

(FILES) Nigerien President Mohamed Bazoum meets with the French Foreign and Armies ministers during their official visit to Niamey on July 15, 2022. Niger's deposed president Mohamed Bazoum must be freed immediately from detention, where he has been held since a July 26 coup, the court of the West African bloc, ECOWAS, ordered on December 15. (Photo by BERTRAND GUAY / AFP)

(AFP) - Niger's deposed president Mohamed Bazoum must be freed immediately from detention, where he has been held since a July 26 coup, the court of the West African bloc, ECOWAS, ordered on Friday.

The court called for his "immediate and unconditional release" and ordered that Bazoum be reinstated, according to the judge in the case heard in Nigeria's capital Abuja.

Niger is currently suspended from the Economic Community of West African States. Other member states have, in the past, ignored rulings from the ECOWAS court.

"It is Mohamed Bazoum who represents the state of Niger... he remains president of the republic," the court ruling said.

"There are constitutional rights that have been violated."

Bazoum has been held in his presidential residence with his wife and their son since he was overthrown.

In mid-September, the deposed president appealed to the ECOWAS Court of Justice to obtain his release and the restoration of constitutional order in the country.

© Agence France-Presse