A Malian court has sentenced journalist Abdrahamane Keïta to three years in prison, with two years to be served and one year suspended, over comments he made during a television programme about the security situation in northern Mali.
Keïta, publication director of the weekly newspaper Le Témoin, was also ordered to pay 1 million CFA francs in damages to the state following the September 14 ruling by the National Cybercrime Court in Bamako.
The charges arose from his June 4 appearance on the television programme Grand Jury on Renouveau TV, during which he said the northern city of Kidal was under the control of Iyad Ag Ghali, leader of the Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims, known as JNIM.
Authorities subsequently accused Keïta of an offence of a regionalist nature capable of undermining national unity and the credibility of the state, as well as publishing and disseminating false information through an information system.
Keïta was summoned by the National Cybercrime Unit on June 9 and remanded in custody following questioning. His trial was delayed several times before opening on September 7.
During proceedings, Keïta denied wrongdoing and maintained that his comments had been taken out of context. His lawyers sought an acquittal, arguing that the remarks did not constitute an attack on the credibility of the state or the deliberate dissemination of false information.
The Media Foundation for West Africa has condemned the conviction and called for Keïta’s release, arguing that cybercrime legislation should not be used to criminalise legitimate journalistic activity and freedom of expression.
The case adds to growing concern among press-freedom organisations over the prosecution and imprisonment of journalists in Mali for statements made in the course of their work, particularly under cybercrime legislation.
