Céline Narmadji

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Céline Narmadji  (born 20 October 1964)  is a Chadian human rights activist and a member of Chadian Human Rights League. She is the spokesperson for a human rights coalition Too Much is Too Much. Narmadji became actively involved in human rights activism after disappearance of her brother and the assassination of Master Joseph Bihidi. In 2016, she was arrested and detained along with three other activists for calling for a street protest against the 5th term bid of President Idriss Deby Itno.[1]

Education and activism[]

Narmadji was born in Fort-Lamy to catholic practicing parents. Her father was a farm driver. She began her early education in a catholic missionary school in 1970s. Her studies were interrupted by the 1979 war in the country. Narmadji was in class when the first major gun shots in the war were fired. Unsure of what the sound was, she and her fellow pupils rushed out to find out what was happening and found a lot of corpses in the streets. Her family fled the war to a Village where they took refuge. Narmadji returned to school in 1982 and obtained her first grade certificate.[2][3]

Narmadji started her human rights activism during the disappearance of her brother and the assassination of Master Joseph Bihidi. In 1992, she became a member of Chadian League for Human Rights and later joined Trop c'est trop" coalition and president of the Association des femmes pour le développement et la culture de la paix au Tchad (AFDCPT) where she serves as the spokesperson of the group. Her activism put her in conflict with the government. In April 2016, she led other rights activists in calling for a protest against the 5th term of president Idriss Deby.[4][5] She was arrested and detained for three weeks before being sentenced to four months jail term for "inciting an unarmed assembly, disturbing public order and disobeying a legitimate order" . She often criticizes the government for worsening social and economic situation in Chad.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ "Invité Afrique - Céline Narmadji: «la prison n'a pas atténué notre engagement»". RFI (in French). 2016-10-02. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  2. ^ "Céline Narmadji : « Les gens souffrent au Tchad »". La Croix (in French). 2016-11-24. ISSN 0242-6056. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  3. ^ "Tchad – Céline Narmadji : « Les manifestants expriment un ras-le-bol populaire » – Jeune Afrique". JeuneAfrique.com (in French). 2016-02-24. Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  4. ^ "Quatre leaders de la société civile en garde à vue au Tchad". VOA (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  5. ^ "Tchad : Arrestation et détention arbitraire de plusieurs représentants de la société civile tchadienne en amont de marches pacifiques". Fédération internationale pour les droits humains (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-19.
  6. ^ JDD, Le. "Tchad : Céline Narmadji n'a pas peur des puissants". lejdd.fr (in French). Retrieved 2021-05-19.
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