Senegal

CPJ has documented at least 12 incidents of threats and physical harm against journalists reporting on the presidential election campaign, Sunday’s vote and its aftermath.

During his five-day visit, RSF’s representative is due to meet with government officials, journalists and news media.

Alioune Tine, a human rights defender and political activist who was arrested and detained for organizing a demonstration against the third-term bid of President Abdoulaye Wade, was released without charge on January 30, 2012 after a 72-hour detention.

“Le Quotidien” editor Mamadou Biaye and reporter Mamadou Ticko Diatta were given handed three-month prison terms over a story alleging that the deputy mayor of the district had links to an armed separatist group.

Malick Noel Seck was jailed for two years on October 20, 2011 over a protest letter he wrote to the Constitutional Court, asking it to reject the third-term candidacy of President Abdoulaye Wade for the 2012 presidential election.

The terms under which the government contracts the provision of water services are being discussed without consultation with affected stakeholders, says the organisation.

Malick Noel Seck was sentenced to two years imprisonment over his protest letter to the Constitutional Council asking it to reject the third term candidacy of the incumbent President Abdoulaye Wade.

Malick Noel Seck had earlier petitioned the constitutional court not to accept the candidacy of incumbent President Wade for the 2012 presidential election.

Félix Zalé, Ahmet Bachir Ndiáye and Mamadou Diowere were accused of “discrediting the police” in a front-page story that accused them of using violence to quell a demonstration.

Oumar Cyrille Touré was released after about 24 hours in police custody, following remarks he made at a rally criticising President Wade’s bid to run for a third term in office.

Four journalists were summoned to the Department of Criminal Investigations over an article critical of the president’s aides and interrogated for more than 10 hours.

Following the attack on Alioune Tine and Oumar Diallo, Human Rights Watch calls for the government to allow peaceful demonstrations and end threats against activists.

Participants in a seminar organised by ARTICLE 19 and Forum Civil urge the government and other stakeholders to sensitise and train public servants to enable them to fully implement the access to information law and support the realisation of a transparent system of government.

A Dakar court has handed down a three-month suspended jail sentence to Abdou Latif Coulibaly, editor of the weekly “La Gazette”, and fined him for allegedly defaming a businessman close to the president.

liou Dabo, Boubacar Dabo and Mamady Daffe, who are members of a Dakar-based sports and cultural association, and their French colleagues David Perez and Franck Gerard Marie Bourel were arrested for filming a mock rebel attack.

One of four police officers charged with assaulting two sports journalists in 2008 was given a one-month suspended sentence and ordered to pay damages.