René Capain Bassène

Dakar, May 4, 2026—A new podcast released by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) presents extensive new testimony and reporting on the conviction of Senegalese journalist and author René Capain Bassène, raising serious questions about the integrity of a case that has become one of West Africa’s most emblematic press freedom concerns. The six-part series,…

A key Senegalese rebel leader, César Atoute Badiate, has broken his silence on jailed journalist René Capain Bassène, refuting the prosecution’s claim that Bassène was a militant fighting for independence of the Casamance region who incited him to murder 14 illegal loggers in 2018.  “René Capain Bassène is neither an MFDC representative nor a leader…

The Committee to Protect Journalists joined 180 journalists, civil society organizations, and academic researchers in a joint letter urging Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye to end the prolonged detention of journalist and writer René Capain Bassène, who has been behind bars since January 2018 and convicted of complicity in murder. A CPJ investigation found Bassène could…

Dakar, May 7, 2025— Senegalese authorities should end the persecution of journalist René Capain Bassène, whose lifetime prison sentence was upheld by the Senegal Supreme Court in a May 2 decision, said the Committee to Protect Journalists on Wednesday. “It is deeply worrying that René Capain Bassène’s life sentence has been upheld despite all the flaws in the investigation that led to his imprisonment and the documented…

In spite of the Senegalese gendarmerie officer holding a gun held to his head, Ibou Sané held firm. He refused the officer’s order to admit that he knew René Capain Bassène – but in the end it didn’t matter. Testimony he insisted he never gave was used in court to help convict Bassène, a well-known…