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Niger’s appeal court has sentenced an exiled former presidential candidate to a year in jail for child trafficking.

Hama Amadou, the main challenger to President Mahamadou Issoufou in last year’s presidential election, has been living in France since last year when he left Niger for health reasons just days before a run-off.

He had pleaded not guilty to the charges that he and his wife were part of a plot, including several others, to falsely claim the parenthood of around 30 children from neighboring Nigeria who were to be sold on to wealthy couples in Niger.

The verdict was read in the absence of Amadou’s lawyers, who had boycotted the trial in protest. The case was initially dropped by a Niger court in 2015, but was reinstated by the appeals court later in the year.

Hama’s lawyers have dismissed the case as politically motivated. – Daily Trust

— Mar 15, 2017 @ 6:30 GMT

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