Dakar, December 20, 2022 – In response to news reports that Senegalese authorities re-arrested journalist Pape Alé Niang on Monday, less than a week after his release on bail, the Committee to Protect Journalists issued the following statement of alarm on Tuesday:
“Authorities in Senegal should immediately and unconditionally release journalist Pape Alé Niang and cease all legal proceedings against him for his work,” said Muthoki Mumo, CPJ’s sub-Saharan Africa Representative, in Nairobi, Kenya. “Bail conditions should not be a sword of Damocles hanging over the head of any journalist.”
Niang, director of the privately owned website Dakarmatin, was arrested in early November, criminally charged over a video report, and released on bail with various conditions on Wednesday, December 14. After his rearrest Monday, a judge today ordered Niang’s return to prison for allegedly violating one of his bail conditions, according to media reports and his lawyer, Ciré Clédor Ly, who spoke to CPJ on the phone. Ly told CPJ that authorities alleged the violation occurred when Niang discussed his ongoing prosecution during a Facebook Live broadcast on Saturday, December 17, which CPJ reviewed before it was taken offline.