(MENAFN- The Peninsula) AFP
N'Djamena: A rights activist has been arrested in military-ruled Chad and detained by the intelligence service, his lawyer said Friday, ahead of presidential elections in May.
Baradine Berdei Targuio, president of the Chadian Human Rights Organisation (ODTH), is an outspoken critic of the military Regime of General Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno.
"Baradine has been arrested and is being held on the premises of ANSE (Chad's intelligence service)," lawyer Alain Kagonbe told AFP.
He had "no idea why he is being held", he added. His arrest was confirmed by one of the activist's brothers.
The arrest comes days after opposition leader Yaya Dillo Djerou was killed after troops surrounded the office of his Socialist Party Without Borders in the capital N'Djamena.
Audio messages attributed to Berdei Targuio calling on people to avenge the death of Yaya Dillo have been circulating in recent days in the ethnic Zaghawa community, to which both the activist and the Deby Itno family belong.
Deby Itno was proclaimed transitional president in 2021 and promised a return to civilian rule and elections within 18 months, but subsequently extended the transition by two years.
Protests against the decision were brutally repressed by the security forces in October 2022. Deby Itno is widely expected to win the election because of the crackdown on the opposition, say rights groups.
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