Court orders release of Senegalese government spokesperson

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Dakar, Senegal

A judge on Tuesday ordered the release of a Senegalese journalist and prominent anti-government critic after more than two months in detention, his lawyers said.

Pape Ale Niang, head of the Dakar Matin online news site, was arrested on 6 November and charged with “disclosure of information likely to harm national defence”.

Widely followed in Senegal for his regular current affairs columns, Niang was released on December 14 but sent back to prison a week later and had since gone on a hunger strike to protest his detention.

Lawyer Moussa Sarr told Agence France-Presse that the temporary release order came with a strict ban on Niang commenting on the case as well as a travel ban.

He was “extremely strained” by a hunger strike in protest at his detention, the lawyer said, adding that he was still in hospital.

The journalist has been at Dakar’s main hospital since December 24, where doctors became concerned about his condition, according to a local news outlet.

Another of his lawyers, Cire Cledor Ly, said the case was “political” and that Diang should end the hunger strike.

“He held on, it was very tough, but he was fighting for a principle and he won,” the lawyer said.

The case against Niang came after he wrote about rape charges against Senegal’s main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko.

Niang was accused of describing confidential messages about security arrangements for Sonko’s interrogation by investigators, according to the unions.

His detention has drawn a wave of criticism from the press, civil society groups and the Senegalese opposition, with many calling for his release.

The Coordination of Press Associations issued a statement praising the “victory” of the release order and calling for the cancellation of the “fanciful and political accusations which earned him more than 60 days in prison”.

Senegal has a solid reputation for openness and press freedom in West Africa, but this status is in decline, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Its 2022 Press Freedom Index ranked Senegal 73rd out of 180 countries, down 24 places from 2021.

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