(MFWA/IFEX) - Salif Dago, a journalist with "L'Enquêteur", a bi-monthly privately-owned newspaper, who has been charged with publishing false news, made his first appearance at a regional court in Niamey on 1 September 2006.
According to an MFWA-Niger source, the State Prosecutor requested a 12-month prison sentence for Dago.
Dago was arrested on 28 August and held in detention at the central police station in Niamey following a complaint filed against him by the country's Attorney General at a regional court in Niamey, regarding a story in the 14 August issue of "L'Enquêteur, entitled "Black mass at Niamey cemetery". The story was about an unnamed man who allegedly killed a baby in a cemetery and bathed himself with the blood.
On 28 August, Ousmane Toudou, the station manager of Anfani Radio, an independent radio station based in Niamey, while commenting about the "L'Enquêteur" story, criticized the police for not dealing more decisively with the menace of human sacrifices, which the radio station claimed had become rampant in Niamey. Ousmane was questioned at the police station and released the same day, but was asked to report back on 29 August. When he did so, he was detained.
Idrissa Soumana Maiga, publisher of the "L'Enqueteur" told the MFWA source that the newspaper's managing editor, who is out of the country, is on the police's wanted list in connection with the same story.
The court will give its ruling on the case on 11 September.
Meanwhile, the journalists are still in detention.
