Dakar – The director of a news site critical of Senegal’s government was charged on Wednesday in the capital Dakar over accusations he distributed information “to harm the national defence” and disseminated fake news, his lawyer said.
Pape Ale Niang, who runs the news site Dakar Matin, is well known in Senegal for his regular columns on current affairs.
“I confirm that, yes, he has been charged and placed under a detention order,” his lawyer Cire Cledor Ly told AFP.
He was arrested on Sunday afternoon and detained at the central police station in Dakar over three alleged “infractions”, Ly said.
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Niang was charged with “disclosing information not yet made public by the competent authority of a nature to harm the national defence”, “concealing administrative and military documents”, and “disseminating false news likely to discredit public institutions”, according to another of his lawyers, Cheikh Koureyssi Ba.
Senegal’s Coordination of Press Associations, a body representing local press groups, said in a statement that it would provide “all the assistance needed” by Niang.
According to local media, the arrest came after articles by the journalist in recent days about rape charges being faced by Senegal’s main opposition leader Ousmane Sonko.
Sonko, 48, who has declared his candidacy in the 2024 presidential election, has been under judicial supervision since March 2021 over accusations he raped and threatened an employee of a beauty salon where he was getting a massage.
He appeared before a judge on Thursday for the first time in the closely watched case.
Senegal was ranked 73rd out of 180 countries on the 2022 World Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders.
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Source: AFP
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