A CPJ investigation found Bassène could never have committed the crime, yet Senegal’s Supreme Court dismissed Bassène’s final appeal of a life sentence on May 3, 2025. Bassène was finalizing a fourth book on the separatist conflict in southern Senegal at the time of his arrest.

“As a son of Casamance, I wrote out of duty, for posterity so that the history of this conflict would not disappear from the collective memory and that it would never happen again,” said Bassène from the Aristide Le Dantec hospital in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, where he underwent a June 4 to repair an eardrum perforated during his arrest. He added, “I thank from the bottom of my heart all the signatories who believe in my innocence and are fighting for my release.”

Read the full letter in English here and in French here.

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

“It is deeply worrying that René Capain Bassène’s life sentence has been upheld despite all the flaws in the investigation that led to his imprisonment and the documented abuses he suffered behind bars,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s representative for Francophone Africa. “Senegalese authorities must clarify the current conditions of detention of René Capain Bassène and implement all possible means to ensure his release.”

Following the Supreme Court’s ruling, Bassène was transferred overnight on May 3 to the Senegalese capital of Dakar, where he was placed in a special ward for sick detainees at Aristide Le Dantec Hospital.

Bassène was arrested in 2018 in connection with the deaths of 14 loggers shot to death in the Bayotte Forest in the southern Casamance area of Senegal. In 2022, he was sentenced to life in prison for complicity in murder, attempted murder, and criminal association. 

A 2025 CPJ investigation found that the case against Bassène was severely flawed, as the journalist’s co-accused were forced to implicate him or sign inaccurate interview records. CPJ also found that the case relied on inconsistent evidence and that the journalist was mistreated behind bars. 

CPJ’s calls and messages to Ousseynou Ly, spokesman for the Senegalese presidency went unanswered.

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

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.

We spend the hour with the acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose book The Message features three essays tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, book bans and academic freedom, and the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. The Message is written as a letter to Coates’s students at Howard University, where he is the Sterling Brown Endowed Chair in the English department. As part of the research for the book, Coates traveled to Senegal and visited the island of Gorée, often the last stop for captured Africans before they were shipped to the Americas as enslaved people. Coates also visited a schoolteacher in South Carolina who faced censorship for teaching Coates’s previous book, Between the World and Me, an experience he says showed him the power of organizing. “That, too, is about the power of stories. That, too, is about the power of narratives, the questions we ask and the questions we don’t,” Coates says of the community’s response.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

We spend the hour with the acclaimed writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, whose new book The Message features three essays tackling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, book bans and academic freedom, and the legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. The Message is written as a letter to Coates’s students at Howard University, where he is the Sterling Brown Endowed Chair in the English department. As part of the research for the book, Coates traveled to Senegal and visited the island of Gorée, often the last stop for captured Africans before they were shipped to the Americas as enslaved people. Coates also visited a schoolteacher in South Carolina who faced censorship for teaching Coates’s previous book, Between the World and Me, an experience he says showed him the power of organizing. “That, too, is about the power of stories. That, too, is about the power of narratives, the questions we ask and the questions we don’t,” Coates says of the community’s response.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

“Senegalese authorities must stop arresting journalists for their work and hold accountable the attackers of Ngoné Diop and Maty Sarr Niang,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa Program, in New York. “The authorities should take swift action to prevent furthering the previous government’s harm to Senegal’s press freedom, characterized by repeated detentions of journalists, media outlet suspensions, and other attacks on reporters.”

On September 30, the police special cybersecurity division arrested Dia over comments he made during a September 23 Sen TV online broadcast about alleged police corruption according to Fatima Diop, host of the Sen TV program, where Dia is a regular commentator.

Separately, Seck, founder of YouTube news site Yerim Post TV, which he no longer runs, was detained on October 1 over a September 27 7TV program in which he questioned the accuracy of a budget-related announcement by Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, his lawyer Mamadou Gueye Mbow told CPJ.

On Thursday, Dia and Seck were released and had their cases dropped, according to their lawyers.

On October 2, several supporters of opposition leader Bougane Guèye Dany insulted Diop, a reporter for the privately owned news site Sans Limites, and prevented her from covering Dany’s arrival for questioning at the cybercrime division. The supporters also slapped Niang, another Sans Limites reporter, in the head and criticized her coverage of Dany, according to Diop’s video of the incident.

Mame Gor Ngom, director of the government’s information and communication office, acknowledged CPJ’s request for comment but had not yet provided a response.

CPJ’s calls and messages to Mouhamed Guèye, spokesman for the Senegalese police, and Moussa Niang, general coordinator of Dany’s movement, went unanswered.

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

Life is often hard for overseas North Korean workers. As much as 80% of their earnings are thought to be handed over to their government. They are forced to surrender their passports, leaving the workers vulnerable to abuse. They spend long stretches away from their families. 

But in some instances living beyond North Korea’s borders can bring comparatively greater freedoms and luxuries, although workers are still closely monitored, according to Ryu Hyun-woo, a former North Korean ambassador to Kuwait who now lives in South Korea. 

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The white, two-story embassy in Dakar had a pool, a rooftop deck and a large room for hosting guests. Among the litter left were wrappings for Chinese noodles and an empty DVD box. 

One poster still on the wall warned of a potential threat: mixing the wrong type of foods. Beef and spinach can cause a stomach ache; pork and ginger a sore throat. Hyun-woo said he created a similar list when he was in Kuwait before he defected. 

“Since we’re not always familiar with the types of food in a place like Senegal, or whether they suit our tastes, it’s sensible to be aware of food that shouldn’t be eaten together,” Hyun-woo said in an interview with RFA Korean.

Edited by Jim Snyder.

This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Jaewoo Park and Hyung Jun You for RFA Korean.

Senegal has inaugurated the youngest elected president in Africa. Newly elected President Bassirou Diomaye Faye nominated Ousmane Sonko to be his prime minister this week, capping a remarkable three-week period that saw the two opposition figures go from prison to ruling Senegal, vowing to fight poverty, injustice and corruption. Faye and Sonko were released from prison in mid-March after previous President Macky Sall had attempted to delay the vote, sparking fears of an anti-democratic election process. Faye’s ultimate triumph, running on a platform of pan-Africanism and reform, has been a cause for celebration among many Senegalese, including former Prime Minister Aminata Touré, who says “democracy prevailed,” giving the country’s younger generation a long-awaited opportunity to “shake up the system,” adds the Senegalese lawyer and political analyst Ibrahima Kane. Both join the show from Senegal’s capital Dakar.

This content originally appeared on Democracy Now! and was authored by Democracy Now!.

Senegalese are due to vote on March 24, with 19 candidates vying to lead the country, after a last-minute delay to the poll in February triggered protests. The current president, Macky Sall, has already served two terms and is not running. 

In recent years, CPJ has tracked a decline in press freedom in Senegal, characterized by repeated arrests and prosecutions of journalists, attacks by security forces on reporters covering protests, internet shutdowns, and other censorship tactics. CPJ’s 2023 prison census placed Senegal among the top five jailers of journalists in Africa.

On March 12, Senegalese authorities released five journalists jailed since last year, including Ndèye Maty Niang, also known as Maty Sarr Niang, and four journalists from the Allô Senegal media outlet who continue to face prosecution, according to Niang and Famara Faty, a lawyer for the Allô Senegal journalists, who both spoke to CPJ. 

“The release from detention of at least five Senegalese journalists jailed since 2023 is welcome news, but they should have never been arrested and their cases underscore the imperative for legal reforms to prevent such criminalization of the press in the future,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program. “All candidates seeking to become Senegal’s next president should commit to taking swift actions to ensure practicing journalism is never again treated as a crime and to drop all ongoing prosecutions against journalists in the country, including the four recently released staff of Allô Senegal.” 

Niang, a reporter with the privately owned news website Kéwoulo, had been jailed since May 2023 and was granted provisional release on March 12, meaning her prosecution would have continued.

Niang’s lawyer, Moussa Sarr, told CPJ that the journalist’s case was now nullified under the amnesty law, which was passed by the Senegalese parliament on March 6 and enforced days after her release.

The amnesty law canceled legal proceedings over alleged crimes “relating to demonstrations or having political motivations” committed in the context of the political crisis in the country from March 2021 to February 2024, according to CPJ’s review of the law.

Journalists continue to face prosecution

Jailed since November 2023, the four Allô Sénégal journalists—news presenter Ndèye Astou Bâ, columnist Papa El Hadji Omar Yally, camera operator Daouda Sow, and manager Maniane Sène Lô—were released under judicial supervision and must appear at a Dakar court every month, according to Faty, adding that their cases were not covered by the amnesty law.

Allô Sénégal reporter Mamadou Lamine Dièye and technician Moussa Diop were also arrested in November, following a complaint by Senegal’s minister of tourism and leisure, Mame Mbaye Kan Niang, about a broadcast that discussed allegations that Niang committed adultery, but they were released under judicial supervision at that time.

The Allô Sénégal journalists face various charges, including “usurping the function of a journalist,” which stems from the combined application of Senegal’s press and penal code and is punishable by up to two years in prison. Ndèye Maty Niang was also charged with “usurping the function of a journalist,” among other offenses.

In May 2023, another journalist, Serigne Saliou Gueye, editor of the Yoor-Yoor newspaper, was similarly arrested and accused of usurping the function of a journalist and contempt of court. He was freed on provisional release after nearly a month and was required to report to the prosecutor’s office each month and barred from leaving Senegal without permission.

At least four more journalists—Pape Sané, Pape Alé Niang, Pape Ndiaye, and Babacar Touré—were arrested in connection with their work in 2023. They faced accusations under the penal code, including false news and conduct likely to undermine public security, and were released under strict conditions. CPJ could not immediately confirm whether their cases had been nullified under the amnesty law, though their lawyer Sarr said they should “in principle” be included. 

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

In response, CPJ has assembled recommendations for journalists working in Senegal, including how to prepare for and respond to tear gas, internet shutdowns, and arrest or detention.

Find CPJ’s protest resources here.

If you would like to speak with someone about threats you are facing or concerned about, please email emergencies@cpj.org. If you are a journalist looking for safety information, you can also message CPJ’s automated chatbot on WhatsApp at +1 206 590 6191.

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

She’s not alone: Niang is one of at least five journalists jailed since last year in Senegal in connection with their work. It’s the highest number ever recorded in the country since CPJ began keeping track in 1992 with its annual December 1 prison census.  

“The government has tried to silence all discordant voices,” Babacar Touré, director of the Kéwoulo news site, where Niang worked, told CPJ in a January interview. “Maty’s place is with us, in our editorial office to prepare for this election.”

Though the journalists were arrested months before the current unrest, their detentions are indicative of a broader crackdown on press freedom and dissent which has called into question Senegal’s reputation as a stable democracy. Authorities have repeatedly jailed opposition leader Ousmane Sonko, most recently in July when they also dissolved his political party, and responded violently to protests. Journalists have faced arrest over coverage of Sonko’s prosecution, and other efforts to curb political reporting.

In early February, after President Macky Sall decided to postpone elections originally scheduled for later in the month, attacks on the media spiked. Senegalese police have targeted dozens of journalists with tear gas, violence, and harassment as they covered demonstrations against the election delay. The government has also repeatedly blocked mobile internet access.

A press code used against the press

Niang and the four other journalists in Senegal’s prisons — Allô Sénégal news presenter Ndèye Astou Bâ, the outlet’s columnist Papa El Hadji Omar Yally, its camera operator Daouda Sow, and its manager Maniane Sène Lô — face a raft of charges. Notably, each is accused of “usurping the function of a journalist.”

The charge stems from the combined application of Senegal’s press and penal codes. Adopted in 2017, the press code, which regulates the media sector, was promoted by officials as a way to professionalize the local press and strengthen democracy. But, as press freedom advocates warned at the time, it imposed limitations on who could be considered a journalist. “Only holders of a national card can claim the status of journalist,” reads Article 22 of the press code. Article 227 of Senegal’s criminal code punishes people who claim to work in a “legally regulated profession” – such as journalism – without “fulfilling the required conditions” with up to two years in prison and a fine.

“Holding the card is not about the professional identity of journalists, it’s simply a document that allows journalists to be distinguished from those who are not journalists when they go to a ceremony,” Serigne Saliou Gueye, publication director of the Yoor Yoor newspaper who has been working as a journalist for over 20 years, told CPJ. “I’m all for professionalizing journalists,” he added, but the issue of impersonating journalists is a “false problem.”

Gueye was jailed in May 2023 over a column Yoor Yoor published under an anonymous byline that criticized the prosecution of opposition leader Sonko. He was held for nearly a month and accused of usurping the function of a journalist and of contempt of court, before being released in June under judicial control, a conditional freedom set by the judge.

‘Paranoia in our ranks’

At least four other journalists – Pape Sane, Pape Alé Niang, Pape Ndiaye, and Touré – have been arrested in connection with their work over the past year and then released under strict conditions, including not speaking publicly about their cases, their lawyers told CPJ. The journalists face various accusations under the penal code, including false news and conduct likely to undermine public security. Those who spoke to CPJ did so about the general media environment in Senegal, not the specifics of their prosecutions.

“It’s all about muzzling the press…and putting pressure on those who resist,” Pape Alé Niang, editor of the news site Dakarmatin, told CPJ. His arrest in 2022 put Senegal on CPJ’s prison census that year for the first time since 2008. He was released and rearrested that December for discussing his prosecution in a Facebook live broadcast, released in January 2023, and then detained again for 10 days in July and August over a broadcast about Sonko’s arrest.

In separate cases last year, Senegalese police also arrested two Senego news website reporters—Abdou Khadre Sakho in August and Khalil Kamara in September—and accused them each of spreading false news in publications about Sonko. Kamara was additionally accused of defamation, contempt of court, and insulting the head of state. Both were released without charge within 24 hours.

“These arrests and imprisonments of journalists have created a paranoia in our ranks,” Ibrahima Lissa Faye, president of the Association of Online Press Professionals, known by the French acronym APPEL, told CPJ. “At any moment you could be prosecuted for disseminating false news without there being any false news, or for undermining state security: catch-all offenses that amount to absolutely nothing, but are used to muzzle journalists.”

CPJ reached Senegal’s Minister of Communication, Telecommunications, and Digital Economy, Moussa Bocar Thiam, over the phone and he asked to be sent a message, but did not subsequently respond to CPJ’s questions about the arrests. Calls to government spokesperson Abdou Karim Fofana, as well as calls and messages sent to Justice Minister Aïssata Tall Sall, went unanswered.

An ongoing ‘spiral’ of fear

Senegal’s constitutional court ruled in mid-February that a new election must take place as soon as possible, and a national dialogue panel has proposed June 2 as a new date. Sall has reaffirmed his earlier commitment not to run again and said he would exit office on April 2, when his term ends. Journalists have continued working amid ongoing unrest, but the prospect of arrest looms alongside threats of violence and censorship.

“There’s this constant anxiety that journalists feel on a daily basis,” Moustapha Diop, director of the Walf TV broadcaster, told CPJ. Walf TV was taken off air for a week in early February; last June it was suspended for a month over protest coverage. “We have the impression that whenever there is tension, the authorities have a simple reflex: Wal Fadjri [the parent group of WalfTV] must stop broadcasting,” Diop said.

Internet shutdowns since the election delay have also impeded journalism in what is now a familiar pattern for the local press. In 2023, internet and social media were shut down and social media was blocked in 2021. The 2023 shutdowns prompted civil society groups to file a lawsuit in January against the Senegalese government at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Court of Justice. The plaintiffs, including Moussa Ngom, an author of this piece, claimed that the 2023 shutdowns violated their freedom of expression and right to work.

“Senegalese journalists have been working in fear. Especially those in groups labeled ‘against the power,’” Ayoba Faye, another local journalist and plaintiff in the internet shutdowns lawsuit, told CPJ. “Above all, the new president must stop this spiral.”

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

“Police in Senegal should be working to protect the press, not attacking and throwing tear gas at journalists to prevent them from reporting on political demonstrations,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program, in New York. “The detention and beating of journalist Absa Hane is a particularly alarming indication of the lengths Senegalese police seem to be willing to go to stop news coverage they do not like.”

As Senegalese security forces sought to quell protests on February 9 over the postponement of the presidential election until December 15, CPJ documented at least six incidents in the capital, Dakar, in which at least 20 journalists were physically attacked, briefly detained, targeted with tear gas, or harassed in other ways by police: 

• Police officers grabbed Absa Hane, a reporter with the privately-owned Seneweb news website, then slapped and kicked her until she briefly lost consciousness while detaining her for about 30 minutes in a police vehicle, Hane and Mor Amar, a reporter with the privately-owned EnQuête newspaper, told CPJ. After the incident, Hane posted a summary of the “brutal” attack on X, noting that she knew the identifying number of an officer responsible and would seek accountability.

Amar said that another officer also hit him with his fist and repeatedly insulted him at the same time, as seen in a video recorded by a third reporter. The journalists said they were leaving the area as instructed by the police when the officers threw tear gas at them.  

• French freelance journalist Thomas Dietrich posted a video on social media and told CPJ that a police officer threw a tear gas canister within “inches” of his face after ordering him to leave a protest.  

• A police officer threw a tear gas canister toward at least five journalists standing in a street, one of those journalists, Fana Cissé, told CPJ. A video published by the privately-owned news website PressAfrik, where Cissé works as a reporter, shows the officer approaching the journalists, throwing the canister, and the journalists running for cover when it explodes. Cissé also said that an officer grabbed and twisted her arm and, after she got into her car, threatened to throw another tear gas canister into her vehicle if she rolled down the window.

A statement by the Leral media group similarly described the police officer targeting journalists with tear gas and said the same officer also damaged a camera held by one of their reporters by grabbing and pulling out its microphone cable. The PressAfrik video shows the police officer dropping the cable. 

• Isabelle Bampoky, a reporter for the privately-owned news website Adtv, told CPJ that police officers threw a tear gas canister toward the group of journalists she was with, and it exploded near her foot. A video shared on social media showed her being helped to walk after she had inhaled the tear gas. 

• Police targeted Sadikh Diop, a cameraperson for the privately-owned news website Senegal 7, with a tear gas canister while he filmed a convoy of police pickup trucks, another Senegal 7 reporter, Matar Cissé, told CPJ. A video Diop shot of the incident shows the convoy and Diop talking, then him screaming after the canister explodes. 

• El Hadj Mané, a cameraperson for the privately-owned online television channel Flash Info, and Senegal 7 cameraperson Amidou Sall told CPJ that police fired tear gas towards them and a group of at least eight other journalists conducting an interview near a protest. Mané said that he dislocated his right shoulder and injured his right elbow as he fell while trying to escape the tear gas.  

CPJ also documented incidents involving five other journalists in the days before: 

• On February 5, police officers ordered Ngoné Diop, a reporter for the privately-owned news website Sans Limites to move away as she covered the arrest of an opposition parliamentarian for participating in a banned rally, the journalist told CPJ. Ngoné Diop said that she moved, but police threw a tear gas canister in her direction and then, after she went to a nearby rooftop to continue coverage, an officer followed her, ordered her to move again, and prevented her from filming. A video posted by Sans Limites showed Diop as she was ordered to move.

• In three incidents on February 4, officers with the gendarmerie briefly detained or harassed four journalists covering protests over the election delay announced the previous day. 

In a separate February 9 incident, police officers fired tear gas into the Dakar courtyard of the Wal Fadjri media group’s offices as its employees staged a sit-in to demand the restoration of the signal of its channel Walf TV, which was cut on February 4, according to Ayoba Faye, a reporter with the media group and news reports. Walf TV resumed broadcasting on February 11, after the media group’s directors met the president, according to a Ministry of Communication statement. 

Police spokesperson Mouhamed Guèye told CPJ that he was not in Dakar at the time of the incidents, but that consultations would soon be held with journalists to enable them and police agents to work “in harmony.” 

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

“The case brought against Senegal at the ECOWAS court is an important effort to hold accountable those responsible for shutting down the internet in 2023,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program. “Senegal’s internet shutdown in early February 2024, following the postponement of the presidential election, showcased the continued need for action to curb such blunt censorship. The internet is crucial for journalists to work freely and safely, and for the public to access information.”

Media Defence, a human rights organization that provides legal support for journalists, and the Stanford University Law School’s Rule of Law Impact Lab filed a case before the ECOWAS court on January 31 challenging the Senegalese government’s shutdowns of the internet in the country during June, July, and August 2023, according to a press release published Tuesday by those groups. The plaintiffs in the case include Senegal-based human rights group AfricTivistes and local journalists Ayoba Faye and Moussa Ngom. Ngom also works as CPJ’s Francophone Africa Correspondent.

In June, July, and August 2023, the Senegalese government disrupted access to the internet and social media platforms amid protests over the arrest and prosecution of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.

Senegalese President Macky Sall, on February 3, 2024, announced the postponement of the country’s presidential elections, originally scheduled for February 25. Over the next two days, amid protests and other press freedom violations, authorities blocked access to mobile internet. Mobile internet access was restored on February 7.

Similar blocks of access to social media platforms were reported in 2021.

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

On Saturday, Senegalese President Macky Sall announced that the presidential election originally scheduled for February 25 would be indefinitely postponed, citing a dispute over the candidate list. On Monday, as Senegalese lawmakers began debating the duration of the postponement, protesters took to the streets, and police responded with arrests and tear gas.

“Senegalese authorities must immediately lift the mobile internet suspension, reverse the decision to permanently withdraw Walf TV’s broadcasting license, and ensure journalists are not restricted or harassed while covering ongoing protests,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa program. “As Senegal grapples with the postponement of elections, journalists play a vital role in helping the public understand what is happening. Their ability to report, including via mobile internet, must be protected, not censored.”

On Sunday, Senegal’s Ministry of Communication, Telecommunications, and Digital Economy (MCTPEN) announced it had “temporarily” suspended access to mobile internet due to “hateful and subversive” messages on social media, without indicating the duration of the cutoff.

Internet users began to notice disruption to their mobile connectivity on Monday, according to CPJ’s review of service in the country. Mobile internet accounts for 97% of user connections, according to a September 2023 report by Senegal’s Telecommunications and Postal Regulatory Authority, which regulates the sector.

Also on Sunday, Senegalese authorities permanently withdrew the broadcasting license of Walf TV, the television broadcast service of the privately owned media group Wal Fadjri and one of the country’s major broadcasters, according to CPJ’s review of access to the channel in the country and a copy of the MCTPEN’s decision. The ministry cited Wal Fadjri’s “state of recidivism,” the broadcasting of violent images exposing teenagers, and “subversive, hateful, and dangerous language that undermines state security.”

Walf TV’s broadcasts on Sunday focused on the escalating protests, according to CPJ’s review, which did not identify any calls to violence in that coverage.

The same day, officers with Senegal’s gendarmerie in Dakar, the capital, harassed and briefly detained reporters Sokhna Ndack Mbacké, with the privately owned online news site Agora TV, and Khadija Ndate Diouf, with the privately owned television channel Itv, before releasing them without charge, Mbacké and Diouf told CPJ. Mbacké told CPJ that the officers snatched her phone, insulted both of them, and that one officer threatened her with imprisonment if he saw her again.

Separately, a different group of gendarmerie officers harassed Hadiya Talla, editor-in-chief of the privately owned news site La Vallée Info, interrupting his live broadcast from the protests in Dakar, according to Talla, who spoke to CPJ. First, an officer grabbed Talla’s phone and insulted him before returning it, and then later an officer interrupted his live coverage and ordered him to stop reporting, before letting Talla continue.

The same day, a group of gendarmes twice threw tear gas in the direction of Clément Bonnerot, correspondent for the French-language global broadcaster TV5 Monde, as he stood alone in a Dakar street, filming the security forces, according to Bonnerot and CPJ’s review of a video he shared of the scene. Bonnerot told CPJ that another gendarme later accused him of “following him” and warned not to “provoke him.”

CPJ’s calls to Ibrahima Ndiaye, spokesperson for the gendarmerie, went unanswered.

Also in June 2023, Senegalese authorities in June 2023 suspended Walf TV for a month over its coverage of demonstrations following Sonko’s arrest and threatened to withdraw its broadcasting license in the event of a repeat offense.

Previously, in June, July, and August 2023, the Senegalese government disrupted access to the internet and social media platforms amid protests over the arrest and prosecution of opposition leader Ousmane Sonko. TikTok has remained blocked in the country. Similar blocks of social media platforms were reported in 2021.

Around the world, CPJ has repeatedly documented how internet shutdowns threaten press freedom and journalists’ safety. CPJ offers guidance for journalists on how to prepare for and respond to internet shutdowns.

At least five journalists—Daouda Sow, Maniane Sène Lô, Ndèye Astou Bâ, Papa El Hadji Omar Yally, and Ndèye Maty Niang, who is also known as Maty Sarr Niang—have remained jailed in Senegal since last year in connection with their work.

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

Agents from the Criminal Investigations Division (DIC), a branch of the Senegalese police, arrested six Allô Sénégal journalists from the media outlet’s premises in the western Thiés region on November 11 and transferred them to the DIC police station in the capital Dakar, according to a colleague with knowledge of the case who asked not to be named for safety reasons and news reports.

The arrests followed a complaint by Senegal’s minister of tourism and leisure, Mame Mbaye Kan Niang, in relation to a November 9 Allô Sénégal broadcast that discussed allegations that Niang committed adultery, according to the same colleague and reports. The outlet later removed the report, and in a November 12 YouTube video, Allô Sénégal apologized to Niang, stating that the report was inaccurate.

A Dakar court charged four of the journalists—news presenter Ndèye Astou Bâ, columnist Papa El Hadji Omar Yally, camera operator Daouda Sow, and manager Maniane Sène Lô—with defamation, public insults, and usurpation of the position of a journalist on November 17, according to the same colleague and their lawyer, Famara Faty, who spoke to CPJ. They were also charged with incitement to the crime of murder without effect—which under Senegalese law means that the alleged verbal provocation was not followed by an action—and advocating for the crime of murder for comments made during the broadcast claiming that the penalty for Niang’s alleged adultery under Islamic law would be death. Faty said the Islamic provisions on adultery are not applied in Senegal.

Bâ was transferred to Liberté 6’s women’s prison while the three other journalists were sent to Rebeuss prison, both in Dakar, according to the colleague.

The same court charged reporter Mamadou Lamine Dièye and technician Moussa Diop, who were not at the Allô Sénégal offices when the program about Niang was recorded, with usurpation of the position of a journalist and released them under judicial supervision.

“Authorities are wasting public resources by pursuing criminal charges against the Allô Sénégal journalists and further eroding the space for free debate in a country that was only recently considered a bastion for press freedom in Africa,” said CPJ sub-Saharan Africa Representative Muthoki Mumo, in Nairobi. “Authorities should immediately release Papa El Hadji, Omar Yally, Daouda Sow, Ndèye Astou Bâ, and Maniane Sène Lô, drop all criminal proceedings against them and their colleagues, and allow them to resume their work without further harassment.”

The charges of usurpation of a position and defamation are each punishable by up to two years imprisonment, while public insult carries a potential two-month sentence, according to Senegal’s penal code. A conviction of advocating for the crime of murder could carry a three-year prison sentence, while incitement to the crime of murder carries up to five years imprisonment.

On November 15, Niang, who belongs to the ruling Alliance for the Republic political party, told a local TV station that he had filed a complaint against 25 people, including the six Allô Sénégal journalists and content creators on social networks.

During their November 9 news program, which CPJ reviewed, Yally, Bâ, and Sow described allegations that Niang had committed adultery as ironic, given Niang’s earlier comments about allegations of rape against opposition politician Ousmane Sonko. The journalists’ colleague believes that Niang perceives Allô Sénégal as supportive of Sonko, who was convicted in May to six months suspended sentence for defamation and public insult in connection to a different complaint by Niang.

CPJ’s calls and letter to Niang at the office of the Ministry of Tourism and Leisure received no response. CPJ sent questions to Senegalese Minister of Justice Aissata Tall Sall’s communications officer but received no response.

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

“Gambian authorities must swiftly and unconditionally release journalist Bakary Mankajang, drop all charges against him, and allow him to work freely,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator in Durban, South Africa, on Friday. “The detention and prosecution of Mankajang for his reporting is a chilling reminder of the country’s past under the Yahya Jammeh dictatorship and a betrayal of its democratic gains.”

Jammeh, who took over the West African nation in a 1994 coup, has been accused of multiple human rights abuses, including the killing and torture of opposition members and journalists, during his 22 years in office.  

Gambian police spokesperson Modou Musa Sissawo told CPJ by phone on Friday that Mankajang remained in detention and was charged with “interference with witnesses” in connection with his reporting on the killing of two police officers in Casamance, an area of Senegal south of Gambia.

Interference with witnesses is a misdemeanor, which carries up to two years imprisonment and a fine, according to Sections 34 and 102 of the criminal code.  

Mankajang recently traveled to Casamance to conduct interviews about the killings, according to a Facebook post by the journalist and a statement by local trade group Gambia Press Union. Mankajang is an independent reporter who posts on TikTok and a Facebook page called Mankajang Daily, which collectively have about 70,000 followers.

Mankajang has been detained since officers arrested the journalist on Wednesday, September 20, after he responded to a police summons at Faji Kunda police station outside the capital, Banjul, according to the GPU statement and the journalist’s Facebook post.

[Editor’s note: Paragraph seven of this report has been updated to correct the date of Makajang’s detention.]

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Arlene Getz/CPJ Editorial Director.

The post Senegal and the Politics of Protest: an Interview With Kelly Duke Bryant appeared first on CounterPunch.org.

This content originally appeared on CounterPunch.org and was authored by Daniel Falcone.

This content originally appeared on openDemocracy RSS and was authored by Marame Gueye, Khaita Sylla.

The sudden death of activist Leonie Tanggahma has shaken Papuan communities. Her loss last week has shocked West Papuans who regarded her as one of those who had stood strong for decades advocating independence for the Indonesian-ruled region.

She had lived for decades in the Netherlands among hundreds of exiled Papuans who had left West Papua after Indonesia annexed the territory 60 years ago. She died at the age of 48 on 7 October 2022.

Papuans continue to express messages of condolence and tribute on social media.

• READ MORE: Other West Papua reports

“Sister Leonie passed away due to a severe heart attack,” said Yan Ch Warinussy, a Papuan lawyer and human rights activist and director of the Legal Aid, Research, Investigation and Development Institute (LP3BH), reports Suarapapua.com.

A prominent young Papuan independence activist and West Papua diplomat of the Asia-Pacific region Ronny Kareni, wrote on his Facebook page:

“Sincere and heartfelt condolences for the sad loss of West Papua Woman Leader Leonie Tanggahma. Leonie Tanggahma is the daughter of the late Bernard Tanggahma, Minister for Foreign Affairs in the exile of the Republic of West Papua, which was unilaterally proclaimed by the Free Papua Movement (OPM) in the seventies.

“She was a liaison officer for the Papuan-based human rights NGO ELSHAM in Europe, for which she provided among others, the regular representation of the Papuan cause at United Nations forums, such as the working group on Indigenous populations, the Commission on Human Rights (now Human Rights Council) and its sub-commission.

“In July 2011, the Papua Peace Network (JDP) appointed her, along with four other Papuans living in exile, as a negotiator in the event that the Indonesian Government implements its apparent willingness to hold dialogue with Papuans.

“Following the need for a united political front in a regional and international forum in December 2014, she was appointed as the ULMWP executive member, along with four others to spearhead the national movement abroad, which she served diligently for three years.

“On a personal note, in October 2013 sister Leonie reached out upon receiving information of a political asylum mission that brother Airi and I undertook for 13 prominent Papuan activists who had fled across to PNG.

“She fully supported me in terms of advocating behind the scenes to make sure activists were given support and protection, prior to the UN refugee office closure in December of the same year.

“She followed and listened to The Voice of West Papua despite the time difference and often gave feedback on the radio program. She even shared strong support of the cultural and musical work through Rize of the Morning Star and engaged with the Merdeka West Papua Support Network, where she often sat through countless online discussions during the global pandemic.

“A memory that I will share with many Papuan youths is the screenshot [partially reproduced above], taken on the 18th of September 2022. It demonstrates sister Leonie’s commitment to strengthening capacity of the movement and how much she enjoyed listening and being present for ‘Para Para Diskusi’.

“We will miss you in our weekly discussion, sister Leonie.
Condolences to family and loved ones. May her soul rest in peace.”

An interview last year with Leonie Tanggahma.   Video: Youngsolwara Pacific

A legacy hard to forget
Jeffrey Bomanak, a Papuan figure from Markas Victoria, the historic headquarters of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), wrote:

“On Friday, October 7, 2022, Mrs Leonie Tanggahma had a sudden heart attack and went to the hospital to seek help. She did not have time to seek assistance from a local doctor and was forced to leave her service in the Struggle of the Papuan Nation at exactly 10:00am, Netherlands time.

“Mr Bomanak said, the sacrifice, discipline, and loyalty she showed in Papua’s struggle is a legacy that is hard to forget for OPM TPNPB on this day and all the days to come”.

Octovianus Mote, a US-based Papuan independence figure who worked closely with Tanggahma, paid tribute to her as follows:

“Sister, we are saddened by your sudden passing at such a young age, as was your father. As believers, we believe that all this destruction appeals to you in heaven, and we will be praying there along with other Papuan warriors who have already gone ahead. We accept death as only a means of continuing a new life since life is eternal and only changes its form. Goodbye, Sister Leonie. We did it, my sister. We did it.”

Local West Papua news media website Jubi wrote:

“Hearing of the news of the passing of Mrs Tanggahma is like being struck by lightning, the Papuan nation lost a woman who cared about the struggles and rights of the West Papuan people. Papuans and activists in Papua feel bereaved by this news.”

Born into the heart of West Papuan struggle
Veronica Koman, the well-known Indonesian human rights activist and lawyer who advocates for the rights of Indigenous Papuans, wrote on her Facebook:

“Rest In Peace Leonie Tanggahma.
“Sister Leonie and I first met in Geneva, Switzerland, in 2017. I was astonished by her demeanour — intelligent, articulate, friendly, assertive, authoritative but not arrogant. She was one of the pioneers of the international human rights movement for West Papua. Sister Leonie is not only one of the greatest Papuan women but one of the greatest Papuans as well. It sometimes occurs to me that if society and movements were not sexist (meaning that men and women have equal value) how far would Kaka Leonie have succeeded? The people of West Papua have lost one of their brightest stars.”

Benny Wenda, the West Papuan independence icon paid tribute with the following words:

“Leonie Tanggahma was born into the heart of the West Papuan struggle. She was the daughter of Bernard Tanggahma, Minister for Foreign Affairs in exile of the Republic of West Papua which was unilaterally proclaimed by the Free Papua Movement (OPM) in the seventies. Leonie carried on her father’s legacy by working for the Papuan human rights body ELSHAM and representing her people’s cause at various United Nations forums. Later, she became an ULMWP executive member. In this role she was a dedicated servant of the West Papuan independence movement, helping to lead the struggle abroad.”

She was a member of a team of five representatives of the Papuan independence struggle (Jacob Rumbiak, Leonie Tanggahma, Octovianus Mote, Benny Wenda and Rex Rumakiek) elected in Jayapura in 2011 to promote a peaceful dialogue aimed at resolving the Indonesian conflict and Papuan independence.

Daughter of first West Papua ambassador to Senegal
According to Rex Rumakiek, one of the last surviving OPM leaders from Tanggahma’s father’s generation, who grew up and fought for West Papua’s independence:

Leonie Tanggahma was the second daughter of the late Ben Tanggahma and Sofie Komber. She had an older sister named Mbiko Tanggahma. Nicholas Tanggahma (brother of Leonie’s father) was a member of the New Guinea Council, formed with Dutch help to safeguard the new fledgling state of Papua.

In the early 1960s, Leonie Tanggahma’s father was sent to study in the Netherlands so that he would be trained and equipped to lead a newly emerging nation state. However, Ben Tanggahma did not return to West Papua and settled there and worked at the Post Office in The Hague, Netherlands. Her father finally stopped working in the Post Office and participated in the West Papua struggle with the political figures of that time, including Markus Kaisiepo and Womsiwor.

Rumaiek said Leonie Tanggahma’s father was the first West Papuan diplomat (ambassador level). He was the one who opened the first West Papuan foreign embassy in Senegal, Africa.

The President of Senegal at that time (1980s) was Léopold Sédar Senghor, a Catholic, as was Ben Tanggahma. Having this religious connection enabled both to develop a special relationship, which allowed West Papua to open an international office in Africa and allowed many African countries to support West Papua’s liberation efforts.

Ben Tanggahma was sent to Senegal as an ambassador by the Revolutionary Provisional Government of West Papua New Guinea (RPG), which received official fiscal and material support from African countries and stood behind Senegal. During that time, the government of Senegal provided Ben Tanggahma with a car, a building, and other resources as well as moral support.

These enabled him to lobby African countries for West Papua’s cause of self-determination.

Rumaiek said he got to know Leonie in 2011, when Benny Wenda, Octovianus Mote, Leonie and he were elected to lead peace dialogue teams in an attempt to resolve West Papua’s tragedies. No results were obtained from this effort.

Leonie Tanggahma was, according to Rex Rumakiek, a well-educated young West Papuan woman who carried her father’s legacy and came from a family who played a significant role in the liberation movement of the Papuan people.

Nicholas Tanggahma and West Papua political Manifesto 1961
Nicholas Tanggahma, brother of Leonie’s father (Ben Tanggahma), was a member of the Dutch New Guinea Council (Nieuw-Guinea Raad), which was installed on 5 April 1961 as the first step towards West Papua’s independence. As soon as the council was formed, Nicholas Tanggahma and his colleague realised that things were about to change dramatically against their newly imagined independent state.

After a few weeks, on 19 October 1961, Ben Tanggahma called a meeting at which 17 people were elected to form a national committee. The committee immediately issued the famous West Papua political manifesto, which requested of the Dutch:

• “our [Morning Star] flag be hoisted beside the Netherlands flag;
• “our national anthem (“Hai Tanahku Papua”) be sung and played alongside the Dutch national anthem;
• “our country be referred to as Papua Barat (West Papua); and
• “our people be called the Papuan people.”

Two months later, on 1 December 1961, the new state of West Papua was born, which Papuans around the world celebrate as their National Day.

Leonie Tanggahma died in the same month her uncle had first sown the seed for the new nation West Papua 60 years ago. This deep historical root of her family’s involvement in the struggle for a free and independent West Papua shocked people.

The following are excerpts from a lengthy series of interviews Leonie’s father, Ben Tanggahma had in Dakar, Senegal on February 16 1976. Tanggahma is famous for providing the following answer when asked about the connection between Black Oceania and Africa:

“Africa is our motherland. All the Black populations which settled in Asia over the hundreds of thousands of years came undoubtedly from the African continent. In fact, the entire world was populated from Africa. Hence, we the Blacks in Asia and the Pacific today descend from proto-African peoples. We were linked to Africa in the Past. We are linked to Africa in the future. We are what you might call the Black Asian Diaspora.”

Mbiko Tanggahma, older sister of Leonie Tanggahma, wrote on her Facebook:

“It is true that my little sister, Leonie Tanggahma, passed away on the 7th of October 2022. Although her departure was premature and unexpected, it gives us comfort to know that she was not in pain and that she passed away peacefully. Until her last moments, she continued to do what she loved. She continued to be her determined and fierce self. She fought for just causes, surrounded by her family, friends, activists, and loved ones.”

• Leonie’s family in The Netherlands has provided this donation link. (Cite “Leoni” and your full name and e-mail or home address).

This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.

ZIK FM and Sen TV are subsidiaries of the private media group D-Média, which is owned by Bougane Guèye Dany, leader of the opposition coalition Gueum Sa Bopp.

The alleged violations took place during on-air segments by Ahmed Aïdara, a member of the opposition Yewwi Askan Wi (Liberate the People) coalition who was elected mayor of Guédiawaye, a suburb of Dakar, in January. During those segments, several of which CPJ reviewed, Aïdara provided commentary on daily news stories.

The broadcasters’ suspension was lifted after the three days. On April 5, 2022, Aïdara announced his resignation from D-Média and launched his own YouTube channel, where he broadcasts similar content. He is currently running to become a member of parliament in Senegal’s general elections in July, according to media reports.

Previously, on March 14, the CNRA had warned D-Média over the content of Aïdara’s program, according to a notice published on the regulator’s website. The CNRA claimed Aïdara had violated rules purportedly in place to promote objectivity by continuing to “promote himself and his political side and to denigrate the opposite side or citizens.”

In a March 31 interview with a local radio station, the executive director of the D-Média group, Moumy Seck Guèye, said the CNRA’s decision was “illegal” and that they would challenge the suspensions in court. “[Aïdara’s] political hat does not interest us,” Guèye added. “How many political journalists are there in the media? There is a double standard.”

Speaking to CPJ by phone, Ibrahima Bakhoum, CNRA’s communications officer, said, “When there is a recurrence [of an alleged violation], as in this case [with D-Média], we do not waste time.” The CNRA had warned journalists involved in politics that the press code and the Senegalese journalists’ charter prohibited conflicts of interest, said Bakhoum, adding, “One cannot be in politics and be in news production.”

CPJ called and sent text messages to Guèye for clarity on the organization’s plans to challenge the regulator’s decision, but she did not respond. CPJ contacted several Sen TV staff members for comment on the suspensions, but each of them said Guèye was the only person able to speak for the company on the issue.

CPJ’s calls and questions sent via messaging app to Aïdara went unanswered.

The regulator had previously imposed a 72-hour suspension on Sen TV and another privately owned television station, Walf TV, on March 4, 2021, according to local media reports. The suspensions related to the outlets broadcasting images of unrest following the arrest of the main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko, according to the same sources.

In its decision to suspend Walf TV, the CNRA cited the station’s “repeatedly broadcasting images of violence.” CPJ was unable to review a copy of the regulator’s March 2021 decision to suspend Sen TV.

Both Sen TV and Walf TV managed to continue broadcasting via social media throughout that suspension period, according to CPJ’s review of their pages at the time.

In a recent phone interview, Moustapha Diop, director of Walf TV, told CPJ that the broadcaster only learned of the March 2021 suspension when its signal was cut, with the official notification not coming until the following day.

In response to CPJ’s emailed questions following the March 2021 suspensions, the CNRA requested an in-person meeting. CPJ responded that such a meeting was not possible, but the  regulator never responded to the questions.

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

Alline Pedra, a Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), is working with authorities in Senegal on procedures to prevent, investigate and prosecute cases of human trafficking.

UNODC’s Louise Potterton spoke to the anti-human trafficking expert for UN News.

Ms. Pedra began by explaining why children were being victimized.

This content originally appeared on UN News and was authored by UN News/ Louise Potterton.