Niamey - Twenty-nine prisoners died of suffocation in a jail in Niamey, Niger, according to a new official toll yesterday.
They were among 74 prisoners who, according to witnesses, had been "savagely beaten" and placed last Thursday in a small cell - designed for 10 people - for their alleged role in leading a mutiny.
"They were crying like pigs in a slaughterhouse," said a journalist, who also reported that inmates had inhaled tear gas.