The Court of Justice of the West African regional bloc ECOWAS has ordered Niger to compensate an activist "illegally" jailed for 19 months, his lawyer said Friday. The court ordered Niamey to pay Illiya Dan Malam 50 million CFA francs (76,000 euros/$91,000). Malam was arrested in April 2018 during protests in the southern city of Zinder against austerity measures in the poor Sahel country. The human rights defender was released in November 2019 after an appeals court in Zinder dropped charges against him including insurrection and conspiracy against state security. His lawyer Boudal Effred Mouloul had taken the case to the court of the Economic Community of West African States in September 2019. Mouloul told AFP the court ruled on Tuesday that Malam's arrest and detention had been "arbitrary and illegal" and ordered the compensation for "immaterial damages" suffered by his client. It said Malam's rights to freedom of assembly and expression had been infringed, Mouloul added. Around two dozen activists were imprisoned during five months of protests in 2017-18. bh/stb/sst/gd/tgb