On March 23, 2015, supporters of former Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade roughly manhandled Mane Touré Niang, a reporter with Radio Futur Média.
The MFWA’s correspondent in Senegal reported that Niang had gone to Résidence de Fann, a surburb in Dakar, to cover a press briefing by Wade, who was going make a statement following the sentencing of his son, Karim Wade.
When Niang got to the former president’s residence, the angry activists of opposition party Parti Démocratique Sénégalais (PDS) manhandled her and prevented her from getting access to the residence.
The editorial office of Radio Futur Média as well as Niang’s family consequently lodged a complaint against the activists of the PDS.
However, later in the day, Youssou N’Dour—a former minister in the current government who is also president of the Futur Média Group, owners of Radio Futur Média— pleaded for the withdrawal of the complaint in order to calm the tense climate created both by the rivalry between the ruling and opposition party and the verdict in the Karim Wade case.
However, the Radio Futur Média and the Convention of Young Reporters of Senegal have condemned this act of aggression against the journalist and demanded better protection of journalists in the discharge of their duties.
