The last time I spoke to Succès Masra before his arrest, he sounded torn. He had returned to Chad after years of exile, having agreed to serve as transitional prime minister under a military regime many of his supporters distrusted. He knew the risks. “I’m trying to hold the door open” for democracy, he told me. “But I don’t know how long they’ll let me keep it that way.”
That was more than three months ago.In the early morning of May 16, security forces burst into Dr. Masra’s home and detained him without producing a summons. The charges, which included inciting hatred, were vague and appeared politically motivated. He was imprisoned without a fair hearing. His health deteriorated after a hunger strike. And the international community, including Chad’s closest security partners, remained largely silent, issuing no strong condemnations or demands for his release.
Dr. Masra, the leader of a popular opposition party in Chad, is not just a former transitional prime minister. He is someone who mentored me and with whom I worked closely as an adviser during his leadership. He is also my brother in law.
But this is not a personal plea. Rather it is a call to defend democratic principles. His case is emblematic of something far larger: the rapid, quiet collapse of democracy across the Sahel region of Northern Africa and the enabling role in that collapse that the international community, particularly the United States, continues to play with its silence.
On July 30, a court in N’Djamena allowed the criminal case to go forward despite what Dr. Masra’s lawyers call a complete lack of credible evidence. The charges against him included “complicity in assassination” and “spreading racist and xenophobic content.” His legal team walked out of the courtroom in protest, denouncing what they called trumped-up charges and a hollow judicial process.
Then on Aug. 9, the criminal court sentenced Dr. Masra to 20 years in prison and ordered him to pay a fine equivalent to $1.8 million. His lawyers, calling the verdict a sham and a humiliation, pledged to fight on.