CPJ calls for journalists’ safety, freedom following arrests, attacks in Senegal

Dakar, October 4, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for Senegalese authorities to ensure journalists can operate without fear, following the recent detentions of journalists Kader Dia and Cheikh Yerim Seck and attacks on Ngoné Diop and Maty Sarr Niang in the capital, Dakar.

“Senegalese authorities must stop arresting journalists for their work and hold accountable the attackers of Ngoné Diop and Maty Sarr Niang,” said Angela Quintal, head of CPJ’s Africa Program, in New York. “The authorities should take swift action to prevent furthering the previous government’s harm to Senegal’s press freedom, characterized by repeated detentions of journalists, media outlet suspensions, and other attacks on reporters.”

On September 30, the police special cybersecurity division arrested Dia over comments he made during a September 23 Sen TV online broadcast about alleged police corruption according to Fatima Diop, host of the Sen TV program, where Dia is a regular commentator.

Separately, Seck, founder of YouTube news site Yerim Post TV, which he no longer runs, was detained on October 1 over a September 27 7TV program in which he questioned the accuracy of a budget-related announcement by Senegalese Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko, his lawyer Mamadou Gueye Mbow told CPJ.

On Thursday, Dia and Seck were released and had their cases dropped, according to their lawyers.

On October 2, several supporters of opposition leader Bougane Guèye Dany insulted Diop, a reporter for the privately owned news site Sans Limites, and prevented her from covering Dany’s arrival for questioning at the cybercrime division. The supporters also slapped Niang, another Sans Limites reporter, in the head and criticized her coverage of Dany, according to Diop’s video of the incident.

Mame Gor Ngom, director of the government’s information and communication office, acknowledged CPJ’s request for comment but had not yet provided a response.

CPJ’s calls and messages to Mouhamed Guèye, spokesman for the Senegalese police, and Moussa Niang, general coordinator of Dany’s movement, went unanswered.