Mohamed Bazoum – ousted by military last month – could face death penalty if found guilty

Niger’s military junta has said it will prosecute the deposed president, Mohamed Bazoum, for “high treason” and undermining state security, as concerns were raised about the detention conditions and health of Bazoum and his family.

The statement on Bazoum’s prosecution came hours after the junta indicated to religious mediators that they were open to a diplomatic resolution to the crisis that followed July’s coup. Bazoum could face the death penalty if convicted.

Analysts says key figures in new regime were underestimated as elected president remains confined to residence

The leaders of the military takeover in Niger remained defiant this weekend, apparently confident that disarray among regional opponents, support from other military regimes in neighbouring countries and a wave of popular mobilisation at home will allow them to keep power for the indefinite future.

Mohamed Bazoum, the democratically elected president of Niger, remains confined to his official residence in Niamey, the capital, amid faltering international efforts to convince the new rulers of the unstable but strategically important country to return to barracks two weeks after launching a coup.

Exclusive: Zazia Bazoum says Mohamed Bazoum and other family members denied electricity after coup and have little to eat

Niger’s overthrown leader and his family are being held under inhumane conditions by their military captors, who have cut off the electricity to the presidential residence, leaving them to rapidly lose weight while food rots in the fridge, the president’s daughter has told the Guardian.

Zazia Bazoum, who was on holiday in France when Mohamed Bazoum was detained by his own presidential guard last month, said she is in near daily phone contact with her father, mother and brother, who she says are living without clean water and relying on supplies of rice and pasta, although their gas oven is running out of fuel.

Ecowas says force is a last resort and would prefer diplomatic means of reinstating President Bazoum after army coup

Leaders of a powerful west African regional bloc have ordered the activation of its standby force, increasing the pressure on the senior army officers who deposed Niger’s democratically elected leader last month but leaving the door open for a diplomatic solution.

Speaking after an emergency Ecowas summit in Abuja, President Bola Tinubu of Nigeria warned that “no option is taken off the tables including the use of force as the last resort”.

Mohamed Bazoum has been held at the presidential palace since the coup that deposed him

The US has expressed deep concern for Niger’s deposed president after his party said he and his family were running out of food and living under increasingly dire conditions.

President Mohamed Bazoum, the West African nation’s democratically elected leader, has been held at the presidential palace in Niamey with his wife and son since mutinous soldiers moved against him on July 26.