On June 25, the Senegalese special cybersecurity division took Fofana into custody, according to his lawyer, Aboubacry Barro, and news reports. Barro told local media that Fofana is being prosecuted over allegations the journalist made on TV news programs about the allocation of the National Assembly contract. Fofana said the beneficiary of the contract was a businessman involved in a corruption case related to a former minister. During the trial, which began on July 2, the prosecutor requested a three-month prison sentence and a fine of 200,000 CFA francs (US$359).

The offense of spreading false news is punishable by a prison sentence of up to three years and a fine of 1,500,000 CFA francs (US$2,680). 

“It is alarming that the Senegalese state is once again resorting to the criminalization of journalism,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. Fofana is the second commentator to have been detained in the past three months on false news charges, with Abdou Nguer having been taken into custody in April. “Senegalese authorities must release both journalists immediately and ensure that media professionals do not have to fear reprisals for their work.”

CPJ has previously called for the release and the dropping of charges against Nguer, who has been held since April 14, pending a judicial investigation into whether he spread false news about the death of a local official. New charges of causing offense to the head of state and undermining the functioning of public institutions were added on May 20.

CPJ’s calls to Senegal’s ministry of justice and to Malick Ndiaye, president of the National Assembly, went unanswered. 

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

A Dakar court judge charged Zik Fm editor-in-chief Simon Pierre Faye with spreading false news on April 14 and released him under judicial control. On the same day, the Dakar gendarmerie questioned for several hours online broadcaster Source A TV’s journalists Omar Ndiaye and Fatima Coulibaly, and freelance news commentator Abdou Nguer, over their comments on the death of a local official. Nguer’s lawyer told local media that the gendarmes detained the journalist on false news charges related to a TikTok post that does not belong to him. The post called for an autopsy of the official. Ndiaye and Coulibaly were released without charges.

“Senegalese authorities must drop all charges against journalist Simon Pierre Faye, release news commentator Abdou Nguer, and end their judicial harassment of journalists,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa Representative. “Authorities should instead focus their efforts on advancing promised reforms to decriminalize press offenses.”

Police arrested Faye on April 10 for a post on his outlet’s Facebook page, later deleted, republishing another article on the alleged distrust of President Faye’s leadership.

Responding to a parliamentarian’s question about Faye’s detention, Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko said that “penal policy will now be zero tolerance” for spreading “false news.”

CPJ has documented detentions of Senegalese journalists on false news charges, an offense punishable by one to three years in prison. In his campaign, President Faye promised to replace imprisonment for press offenses with fines. 

Separately, on April 13, police and gendarmes stopped and questioned Al Jazeera Qatar journalist Nicolas Haque and his camera operator, Magali Rochat, upon their arrival in the southern Ziguinchor city, where they sought to report on the return of people displaced by the region’s conflict. The journalists were sent back to Dakar the day after, Haque told CPJ.

CPJ’s email to the government’s information and communications office was not answered.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.