A Dakar court judge charged Zik Fm editor-in-chief Simon Pierre Faye with spreading false news on April 14 and released him under judicial control. On the same day, the Dakar gendarmerie questioned for several hours online broadcaster Source A TV’s journalists Omar Ndiaye and Fatima Coulibaly, and freelance news commentator Abdou Nguer, over their comments on the death of a local official. Nguer’s lawyer told local media that the gendarmes detained the journalist on false news charges related to a TikTok post that does not belong to him. The post called for an autopsy of the official. Ndiaye and Coulibaly were released without charges.

“Senegalese authorities must drop all charges against journalist Simon Pierre Faye, release news commentator Abdou Nguer, and end their judicial harassment of journalists,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa Representative. “Authorities should instead focus their efforts on advancing promised reforms to decriminalize press offenses.”

Police arrested Faye on April 10 for a post on his outlet’s Facebook page, later deleted, republishing another article on the alleged distrust of President Faye’s leadership.

Responding to a parliamentarian’s question about Faye’s detention, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said that “penal policy will now be zero tolerance” for spreading “false news.”

CPJ has documented detentions of Senegalese journalists on false news charges, an offense punishable by one to three years in prison. In his campaign, President Faye promised to replace imprisonment for press offenses with fines. 

Separately, on April 13, police and gendarmes stopped and questioned Al Jazeera Qatar journalist Nicolas Haque and his camera operator, Magali Rochat, upon their arrival in the southern Ziguinchor city, where they sought to report on the return of people displaced by the region’s conflict. The journalists were sent back to Dakar the day after, Haque told CPJ.

CPJ’s email to the government’s information and communications office was not answered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“The fact that journalist Pape Alé Niang is no longer in a jail cell in Senegal is small relief given the stifling bail conditions placed on him,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in New York. “Authorities must combat the erosion of Senegal’s democracy by dropping all legal proceedings against Niang and reforming the country’s laws to ensure journalism is not criminalized.”

On Wednesday, December 14, a Senegalese investigative judge released Niang, director of the privately owned website Dakarmatin, on bail, but seized his passport and barred him from traveling internationally or speaking publicly about his case, Ciré Clédor Ly, one of Niang’s lawyers, told CPJ by phone.

Niang’s release follows his hunger strike that began on December 2 and ended Wednesday, as well as protests by local journalists at the National Assembly on Monday, Ly and media reports said.

On November 6, police arrested Niang in Senegal’s capital, Dakar, and on November 9, he was charged 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. He faces up to five years in prison if convicted.

Niang appeared on CPJ’s 2022 prison census of journalists detained in connection with their work because he remained behind bars as of December 1, the census date.

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

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

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.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

“Senegalese authorities must immediately release Dakarmatin investigative journalist Pape Alé Niang and ensure that the media can report on matters of public interest without running the risk of arbitrary detention,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator in Durban, South Africa. “Instead of censoring the press by targeting journalists for their work, authorities should decriminalize press offenses.”

On November 3, Dakarmatin published a video 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.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.