Senegal: Authorities Charge Senegalese Journalist Pape Alé Niang With Harming National Defense Over Report On Leaked Document

R. Ade/Deutsche Welle
Opposition leader Ousmane Sonko believes the allegations against him are part of a political ploy (file photo).
14 November 2022
Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)

Dakar — Senegalese authorities should drop all charges against journalist Pape Alé Niang, release him, and reform the country's laws to ensure journalism is not criminalized, the Committee to Protect Journalists said Monday.

On November 6, police arrested Niang, director of the privately owned website Dakarmatin, in the capital, Dakar. On November 9, a local prosecutor charged him with disclosure of information to harm the national defense, concealment of administrative and military documents, and dissemination of false information likely to discredit public institutions, according to one of his lawyers, Ciré Cldédor Ly, who spoke to CPJ by phone, and reports by local media and regional press freedom groups.

Ly said the charges relate to a November 3 video published by Dakarmatin in which Niang reported on the contents of an internal gendarmerie report that purportedly exonerated Ousmane Sonko, an opposition leader and 2024 presidential candidate charged with rape.

Niang faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison and has been charged under Articles 64, 80, 255, 370, and 430 of the Senegalese penal code, Ly said.

"Senegalese authorities should drop all charges against journalist Pape Alé Niang over his video report about a leaked document and immediately release him. Authorities must also allow Niang to report freely without further harassment, and reform the country's laws to ensure acts of journalism are not criminalized," said Angela Quintal, CPJ's Africa program coordinator, in New York. "There is no reason that journalists in Senegal, which is often lauded as one of the most stable democracies on the continent, should continue to face the threat of imprisonment for their work."

Ly told CPJ that Niang is in Dakar's central prison where, under Senegal's standard legal procedures, he may spend six to eight months before trial. The prosecutor's choice to bring such heavy charges made the journalist's prolonged detention more likely, Ly said.

CPJ sent Senegal's Ministry of Justice questions via Facebook but received no response.

Separately, on November 5, a police officer aggressively pushed Fatou Dione, a journalist with the privately owned website and television station Buur News, to the ground as she filmed arrests at a protest in Dakar calling for a release of political prisoners, according to a news report, a video taken by another journalist and reviewed by CPJ, and Dione, who spoke to CPJ by phone. Dione told CPJ she was knocked unconscious and sought medical treatment for body aches.

CPJ called Senegalese police spokesperson Mouhamed Guèye, but the line did not connect.

Read the original article on CPJ.

Tagged:
Copyright © 2022 Committee to Protect Journalists. 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.

AllAfrica publishes around 400 reports a day from more than 100 news organizations and over 500 other institutions and individuals, representing a diversity of positions on every topic. We publish news and views ranging from vigorous opponents of governments to government publications and spokespersons. Publishers named above each report are responsible for their own content, which AllAfrica does not have the legal right to edit or correct.

Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica. To address comments or complaints, please Contact us.