Mali: Journalist summoned by the courts after an anti-junta diatribe

A Malian journalist was summoned by the courts on Monday, a few days after openly criticizing the ruling junta at a media forum in Bamako, AFP learned from the journalist and a judicial source.

Chahana Takiou, editor of the Malian bi-weekly, September 22, is summoned by the prosecutor of the cybercrime unit on Monday at 1:00 PM (local and GMT), after speaking out against the junta at the Pan-African Media Forum that Bamako hosted from June 3 to 6.

He is being questioned for "undermining the credit of the State through the judicial institution", AFP learned from the unit.

Since seizing power in a 2020 coup, the military has imposed severe restrictions on freedoms by silencing the opposition and dissenting voices through coercive measures, legal proceedings, and the dissolution of political parties.

"There is no dynamic of peace in Mali. You arrest journalists and instead of judging them according to the press regime and press offenses in Mali, you apply the law on cybercrime," said Mr. Takiou during a panel moderated by Idrissa Hamidou Touré, prosecutor of a court in Bamako.

"I have five pieces of evidence in the room, I can have you arrested right now if I want," retorted the prosecutor, who was present in the room.

The footage has been widely shared on social media.

"There is no sovereign African narrative, just as there is no European or Maghreb narrative.

"Journalism is the same under all skies," Mr. Takiou had also affirmed the previous day to an ovation from his colleagues, during a panel entitled "African media and sovereign narrative".

Mr. Takiou only "issued a critical and factual analysis regarding the abusive use of the cybercrime law to arrest and detain journalists, observed in the country," reacted the NGO Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in a text sent to AFP on Monday.

The organization believes that "issuing a critical analysis does not justify a summons" for the reasons given. It calls on "the judicial authorities to put an end to this procedure, which constitutes an attempt at intimidation."

Mali is ranked 121st out of 180 countries in RSF’s 2026 World Press Freedom Index.

This Sahelian country has been facing a deep security crisis since 2012, fueled in particular by violence from jihadist groups affiliated with Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (IS), as well as community criminal groups and separatists.

AFP