On 30 October 2025, six journalists were arrested in Niamey and and on 3rd November, charged with “disseminating data likely to disturb public order”, an offence under Niger’s cybercrime law.
Out of the six, three of the journalists remain in detention: Oumarou Kané, founder of the satirical newspaper Le Hérisson; Youssouf Sériba, publishing director of the online outlet Les Échos du Niger; and Ibro Chaibou, a newsroom manager with the Radio Télévision Saraounia (RTS) group.
Kané, Sériba and Chaibou were remanded at Kollo prison, about 50 km south of Niamey. The other three journalists; Moussa Kaka, chief executive of the RTS group; Abdoul Aziz, an RTS copy editor; and Souleymane Brah of the online outlet La Voix du peuple, were released provisionally two days after their arrest.
The case stems from the circulation on social media of an invitation to a press briefing by the Solidarity Fund for the Safeguarding of the Homeland, a public fund set up by the military authorities after the July 2023 coup to raise money for the state security forces.
Sériba, Kané and Souleymane Brah are regular co-debaters on Club de la Presse, a weekly current affairs programme on Saraounia TV hosted by Chaibou. The show is among the few remaining platforms for open debate on national issues, after other programmes, including Presse Plus on Bonferey TV, were discontinued.
The three journalists have now been in detention for seven months. If convicted, the journalists face up to five years in prison and fines ranging from two to five million CFA francs (USD 3,200 – 8,000).
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is concerned about the prolonged detention of the three journalists and calls on the Nigerien authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally, to drop the charges against all six, and to uphold their rights to freedom of expression and press freedom in line with national, regional and international human rights obligations.
