(RSF/IFEX) – Ibrahim Manzo and Cissé Omar Amadou, journalist and marketing director from “Le Canard déchaîné”, respectively, were released on 24 November 2002, in the evening, after spending four days in detention. Neither journalist was charged. The two journalists were arrested on 20 November following the publication of an article entitled “Did the army’s chief […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Ibrahim Manzo and Cissé Omar Amadou, journalist and marketing director from “Le Canard déchaîné”, respectively, were released on 24 November 2002, in the evening, after spending four days in detention. Neither journalist was charged.
The two journalists were arrested on 20 November following the publication of an article entitled “Did the army’s chief of staff order the arrest of [key opposition figure] Mahamadou Issoufou?”
RSF had demanded the immediate release of the two journalists. The organisation also recalled that since the beginning of 2002, a dozen media professionals have been arrested by the security forces in Niger and one journalist is currently serving an eight-month prison sentence.
Abdoulaye Tiémogo, publication director of “Le Canard déchaîné”, was sentenced to eight months’ imprisonment for “libel and insult” (see IFEX alerts of 18 November, 4 July and 20 June 2002). He was arrested on 18 June after Prime Minister Hama Amadou filed a complaint against him. The government leader was angered by the weekly newspaper’s publication of an article in which he was accused of attempting to bribe the National Assembly speaker in an effort to retain his post as prime minister.
