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Journalist arrested for reports on mutiny

    NIAMEY

    The head of a private radio station in Niger, Moussa Kaka, was arrested on Friday by gendarmes, news organisations quoted a colleague of the journalist as saying.

    According to the radio's editor in chief, Abdoulkarim Mahamadou, three gendarmes went to the offices of Radio Saraounia and took away Kaka, who is also a correspondent for Radio France International, RFI. Mahamadou and other colleagues followed the gendarmes to their station, pleading for Kaka's release, but the officers refused, Reuters quoted Mahamadou as saying on Friday.

    Kaka's colleagues said his detention was tied to news reports he filed during Niger's recent mutiny. He was arrested under an 5 August presidential decree banning any news reports that could jeopardise national defence. Prime Minister Amadou Hama said on RFI that he "told lies and deformed [the truth]"

    The mutiny broke out in army barracks in eastern Niger on 31 July and was finally put down on 9 August by loyal troops. Officially, there were two casualties - one on each side - while more than 260 sodiers were arrested, including some who tried unsuccessfully to mutiny in the capital, Niamey, on 4-5 August.

    The head of Niger's human rights league, Bagnon Bonkoukou, has also been detained by virtue of the decree for questioning the official death toll. He had claimed that many more people had died. His trial was to have started on Thursday but has been postponed to 5 September.

    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

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