On February 11, 2026, Modou Fall, news commentator at the privately owned channel Sen TV, was summoned by the gendarmerie, questioned, and arrested over remarks he made about a crackdown on student protests in the capital, Dakar.
Fall had alleged in a February 10 program that government officials had recruited students to say that the opposition had orchestrated demonstrations at Dakar's main university. The previous day, a student had died after police stormed the campus.
On February 12, a gendarmerie research brigade, a judicial unit within law enforcement, presented Fall to the prosecutor in a Dakar court on false news charges and he was remanded to prison, according to news reports and Fatima Diop, presenter of Sen TV’s “Grandes Gueules,” where Fall appears regularly, who spoke with CPJ.
“They [the government] decided to blame the death of the young man on the opposition,” Fall said on the show, naming several opposition lawmakers.
“They recruited students, who are their militants, and made them make videos to say that Bougane Guèye Dany gave them money,” he said, referring to Sen TV’s owner, who is also an opposition leader.
On February 16, Fall’s trial began, and the prosecutor requested a six-month prison sentence.
On February 23, a judge found Fall guilty and sentenced him to six months’ imprisonment, with one month to be served and the rest suspended, along with a fine of 200,000 West African francs (US$359).
The student unrest began in December over unpaid financial aid, plans to reform the scholarship system.
Several journalists and news commentators have been arrested since President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye came to power in 2024, after promising to replace prison sentences for press offenses with fines.
CPJ’s mid-February calls to Ousseynou Ly, spokesperson of the presidency, to request comment went unanswered.