On February 17, 2026, freelance commentator Abdou Nguer was arrested while responding to a gendarmerie summons for challenging a public prosecutor’s statement on the cause of a student’s death during a crackdown on university protests.
On February 18, a prosecutor in the capital, Dakar, charged Nguer with spreading false news, his lawyer, Aboubacry Barro, told CPJ.
On February 14, Nguer had commented on Ibrahima Ndoye’s dismissal of “rumors” that the student had been tortured as available evidence did not show he had been subjected to physical violence. Nguer said on the YouTube-based news outlet Dakar 18 that the public prosecutor was denying the results of an autopsy, which indicated several traumas to the body of the young man, who died in a Dakar hospital on February 9 after police stormed the campus.
“If it’s not torture, what is it?” asked Nguer, adding that he didn’t believe Ndoye.
On February 14 and again on February 17, Ndoye said investigators’ evidence showed the student fell from the fourth floor while fleeing a fire in a neighboring room.
On March 20, 2026, the court sentenced Nguer to six months’ imprisonment and a 200,000 West African francs (US$353) fine. One month of imprisonment was mandatory, with the remaining five months as a suspended sentence. Nguer was released the same day as he had already served more than one month’s prison time.
Nguer has faced several cases related to his journalism. In April 2025, Nguer was detained for seven months. He was acquitted of false news charges but received a three-month sentence for causing offense to the head of state and was released in November 2025. A defamation case, initiated in February 2025, was dropped by the plaintiff in February 2026.
CPJ’s August 2026 calls to request comment from the ministry of justice went unanswered.