Twenty-eight prisoners have died after security forces intervened to put down a mutiny in a jail in Niamey, the capital of the African state of Niger. The country’s justice minister, Lawali Danda, said on Monday that six republican guards who had the task of watching the prisoners had been arrested as a result of the dramatic events in the jail, which began last Thursday. The prisoners died during the night of Sunday to Monday, according to the minister. A republican guard was also killed when one of his colleagues opened fire during the uprising. According to reports, the mutiny was initiated by several hundred prisoners who were subdued when they invaded the prison courtyard in protest against the slow handling of their cases by the courts. Some have been waiting years.