Niger: Journalist Moussa Kaka Freed
 |
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
International Freedom of Expression Exchange Clearing House (Toronto)
PRESS RELEASE
9 October 2008
Posted to the web 9 October 2008
IFEX members hailed the provisional release of Moussa Kaka, a local reporter for Radio France International (RFI) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), who has been freed after spending more than a year in jail on charges of collaborating with rebels in northern Niger.
On 7 October, a Niger appeals court ordered Kaka's release and downgraded the charges against him. Kaka, who is also the director of the privately-owned Radio Saraounia, was arrested in September last year and charged with colluding with Tuareg rebels who have been waging a guerrilla war in Niger's uranium-producing north.
He now faces lesser charges of offences against "the integrity of national territory", which carry a maximum sentence of five years in jail. No date was set for the new trial.
"I am relieved and I want to thank all those who thought of me during this past year," he told RSF after being freed.
Kaka has consistently denied the charges against him, arguing that his contacts with the Tuareg-led rebel Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) were made in the course of his work as a journalist.
He was initially charged with "complicity in plotting against state authority", a crime which carries a possible life sentence.
RFI and some IFEX members ran high-profile campaigns urging Niger to release Kaka. An RSF petition was signed by high-profile activists, including musicians Youssou N'Dour and Tiken Jah Fakoly. On World Press Freedom Day in May, the West African Journalists' Association (WAJA) held solidarity actions across West Africa to mark Kaka's seventh month in prison. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) has continually sent out updates on his case.
According to Reuters, Niger's government, which dismisses the MNJ rebels as bandits and drug-traffickers, has slapped a strict ban on foreign journalists visiting the north, where sporadic battles and ambushes since early last year have killed at least 200 rebels and 70 government soldiers. Several foreign reporters have been arrested and deported for breaking the ban.
Relevant Links
MNJ has said it is fighting for more autonomy and a greater share of the northern region's mineral wealth for the Tuaregs and other nomadic peoples.
Read comments. Write your own.
|
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Copyright © 2008 International Freedom of Expression Exchange Clearing House. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Make allAfrica.com your home page
|
RSS Feed
Sign up for FREE daily 'top headlines' by email >> | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | My Account | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
