Jailed Comoros opposition leader on hunger strike

A 2019 Comoros presidential runner is on the fifth day of a hunger strike to push for his trial or release after over a year in detention on conspiracy charges, his lawyer said Friday.

Supporters of Achmet Said Mohamed say the 48-year-old academic was picked up days before the January 14, 2024 presidential election. He had wanted to contest but the courts rejected his candidacy.

The leader of the Hury or “Freedom” movement, wants “either a trial, or his release, or to let nature do its work,” lawyer Djamal El-dine Bacar told AFP.

Achmet was later officially charged with “acts of attack and conspiracy against the authority of the state and for attempted terrorist acts,” the lawyer said.

“My client has been on a drip since yesterday and can hardly stand up. I have had no news from the judiciary or the National Human Rights Commission,” he said.

National Security Minister Fakridine Mahamoud declined to give details, telling AFP: “I’m currently out of the country and I’m not very familiar with his case.”

Achmet took about two per cent of votes in the 2019 presidential election, won by Azali Assoumani who was reelected in January 2024 in a vote that opposition challengers alleged was irregular.

Achmet left the Comoros for France soon after the 2019 election and returned in 2023.

He announced his hunger strike in a letter dated January 20 that points to regulations allowing four months of provisional detention that can be renewed only once.