On June 15, police in the north-central town of Dinguiraye summoned Sagnane, a reporter with the community broadcaster Dinguiraye Rural Radio, according to the journalist, who spoke to CPJ by phone, and a statement by the local journalist association Presse Solidaire.
Police held Sagnane at the Dinguiraye Court of First Instance, seized his phone, and refused to let him contact anyone while they questioned him about a broadcast he aired on June 8, according to those sources. After about six hours, authorities released Sagnane and told him to go home, saying they would contact him “as soon as they needed me,” the journalist said.
“Guinean journalist Mamadou Sagnane should not have been detained over his work, and authorities must ensure he does not face legal repercussions for doing his job,” said Angela Quintal, CPJ’s Africa program coordinator, in Johannesburg, South Africa. “Journalists in Guinea should be able to distribute news of public interest without fear.”
In that June 8 broadcast, Sagnane told CPJ that he read a press release calling for a rally over the recent killing of a young man at a gendarmerie roadblock. When police asked Sagnane why he read that press release, he said that a local association had sent it to the director of Dinguiraye Rural Radio, who saw that it contained no calls for violence and then asked him to read it on-air.
He said he referred the officers to the station’s director for further questions.
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