Committee to Protect Journalists - Mali

Malian army expels French journalist from Gao

2013-05-09T14:58:55Z

A French freelance reporter has said she was expelled from the city of Gao after reporting on allegations of human rights abuses in a nearby town, according to news reports.

Malian journalist Boukary Daou released on bail

2013-04-02T18:44:58Z

New York, April 2, 2013--The Committee to Protect Journalists welcomes today's decision by a judge in Mali to grant bail to a journalist who was jailed for 27 days in connection with his paper's publication of a letter critical of a military leader. CPJ calls on the public prosecutor to drop the charges against Boukary Daou, an editor of the daily Le Républicain.

Daou was released from the central prison in Bamako, the capital, at around 3 p.m. after the judge granted his application for bail pending trial, Assane Koné, editor-in-chief of the paper, told CPJ. Daou told CPJ he shared a cell with about 50 other inmates. Daou has been charged with incitement to mutiny and publishing false information and faces up to three years in prison and a maximum fine of 150 million CFA francs (US$293,000) if convicted, according to local journalists. His trial is scheduled to resume on April 16.

Mali charges editor jailed for publishing critical story

2013-03-19T20:53:07Z

Lagos, Nigeria, March 19, 2013--A journalist in Mali was charged on Monday with incitement to mutiny and publishing false information in connection with his publication of an article that was critical of a former coup leader, according to news reports.

Boukary Daou, a top editor for the daily Le Républicain, has been in custody since March 6, according to news reports. He was held incommunicado by State Security for eight days before being handed over to the Judicial Investigation Brigade of the police. If convicted, the journalist faces a maximum prison sentence of three years and fine of 150 million CFA francs, Assane Koné, editor-in-chief of Le Républicain, told CPJ. His lawyers have filed a petition seeking his release on bail pending trial. His next court date is scheduled for April 16, Koné said.

In Mali, a journalist stabbed for his critical reporting

2013-03-11T21:45:54Z

Lagos, Nigeria, March 11, 2013--Authorities in Mali must investigate an attack on a critical radio journalist that came two weeks after he received threats warning him to resign from the station, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

Journalist detained by security agents in Mali

2013-03-06T22:31:04Z

New York, March 6, 2013--State security agents in Mali detained an editor today in connection with his newspaper's publication of an open letter criticizing a financial package awarded to a former coup leader, according to news reports and local journalists.

Six agents of State Security, Mali's intelligence agency, arrested Boukary Daou, a top editor for the daily Le Républicain, in the capital, Bamako, according to Assane Koné, the paper's editor-in-chief. Koné told CPJ that several journalists went to the agency's headquarters to inquire about Daou, but officials denied having him in custody. Local journalists and news reports, which cited an unnamed Malian security official, later confirmed the journalist's detention.

Attacks on the Press: Between Insurgents, Governments

2013-02-14T05:05:51Z

The rise of extremist groups who target journalists is a potent risk. By Mohamed Keita

Attacks on the Press in 2012: Mali

2013-02-14T05:04:42Z

After an extended period of relative calm and freedom, the Malian press faced severe threats amid a military coup and an armed insurrection. In March, a junta ousted President Amadou Toumani Touré just weeks before his second and final term would have expired. Touré had been the target of public discontent over setbacks suffered by the army in its fight against ethnic Tuareg separatists of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad in Mali's Saharan north. The rebels allied with hard-line Islamist militants to take advantage of the political turmoil after the coup, seizing Timbuktu and other northern cities and towns. Islamist groups imposed draconian censorship on dozens of radio stations, and shut down at least one. Their orders included bans on music and demands that programming feature Quranic recitations, local journalists said. Journalists operating in rebel and Islamist-controlled areas were also subjected to intense intimidation; those in government-controlled areas faced kidnappings, detentions, and assaults.

Attacks on the Press: Journalism and Religion

2013-02-14T05:04:33Z

Editors think twice, reporters do not dig deeply, columnists choose words carefully. By Jean-Paul Marthoz

Attacks on the Press: Divided, Journalists Are at Risk

2013-02-14T05:04:32Z

No amount of security training can make up for a lack of professional solidarity. By Frank Smyth

In Mali, journalist briefly jailed for reporting on Gao

2012-12-17T21:46:17Z

Police detained freelance reporter Moctar Barry on November 15, 2012, in the central town of Sévaré, after he returned from reporting on events in Gao, an Islamist-occupied city in the northern half of Mali, local journalists said.

Al-Jazeera journalists detained in Mali for two days

2012-12-05T21:52:38Z

New York, December 5, 2012--Malian authorities should immediately return the passports and equipment seized from two international Al-Jazeera journalists who were detained for more than two days over the weekend for attempting to cross into militant-controlled territory, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

At least five radio stations attacked in Mali

2012-09-24T20:14:07Z

At least five radio stations were attacked in March 2012 as Tuareg separatists, allied with extremist Islamist militants, pushed the Malian army back from the northeastern region of Gao, according to news reports.

Journalist, fearing attack, flees town in Mali

2012-09-21T19:07:28Z

Soumaïla Abdoulaye Maïga, a presenter with community station Radio Soni in the northeastern town of Ansongo, went into hiding on April 13, 2012, after being warned of an imminent attack by separatist fighters of the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), according to local journalists. After Maïga fled, the fighters raided his house and detained a fellow journalist and friend, local journalists said.

In Mali, Islamist militants seize, shut down two stations

2012-09-21T17:49:28Z

Members of Ansar Dine, a Salafist militant group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, shut down two local radio stations on March 27, 2012, as they seized the northeast town of Kidal from the Malian army, according to local journalists.

Islamist militants seize and rename radio station in Mali

2012-09-20T17:18:05Z

Militants belonging to the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa (MUJAO), a Salafist group affiliated with Al-Qaeda, seized control of community station Radio Soni in the northeastern town of Ansongo on August 29, 2012, according to local journalists.