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Reporters Sans Frontieres and the association of independent press editors in Niger, ANEPI, have called for the release from detention of three media bosses accused of defamation by government officials.
Publisher Abarad Mouddour of La Roue de l'histoire, and the private weekly's owner, Sanoussi Jackou, were arrested on 18 May after being accused of defamation by Niger's minister of trade, Seini Oumarou. Sanoussi also heads an opposition party.
The third detainee, Abdoulaye Tiemogo, was arrested on 17 May, one week after conducting a radio show on the private Tambara FM. His guest, Jackou, had accused Prime Minister Hama Amadou of ethnic and regional bias in the nomination of high-ranking government officials, media sources said.
On Tuesday, all three were transferred to the civil prison in the capital Niamey, where they were scheduled to remain until Friday, when they are billed to appear in court.
In letters demanding the release, RSF said detention should not be used to punish journalists who allegedly err. The French news agency, AFP, reported ANEPI as saying that it was worried about a pattern of muzzling the press that has developed in the country in the last two years.
Tiemogo and the government had crossed paths in 2001 when he was sentenced to six months in jail for an article accusing Agriculture Minister Wassalke Boukari of embezzling 200 millions FCFA (about US $267,000) from one of Niger's gold-rich regions. Boukari later dropped the charge.
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
