“Gazali Abdou Tasawa is the fifth journalist trapped behind bars in Niger because of reporting that questions Nigerien authorities’ governance, reinforcing an escalating pattern of the press being criminalized,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “Arrest and detention have become tools-of-choice for Nigerien authorities to try to control information they find undesirable. We call for all five journalists to be promptly released.”
Tasawa was jailed on January 23 in the capital, Niamey, the day after he was questioned by police about his January 15 report on Nigerian refugees who said they were sleeping in the open by a cemetery after police demolished their informal shelters.
DW told CPJ that it had not been informed of the charges against Tasawa, the outlet’s Hausa-language correspondent.
“It must be ensured that our employees can carry out their journalistic work freely and without intimidation,” said Nadja Scholz, Managing Director of Programming.
On January 20, a delegation from the Nigerian embassy visited Niger’s foreign affairs ministry to discuss the situation of about 1,300 Nigerians refugees in Niamey, following “unfounded rumors circulating on social media,” the ministry said.
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