Niger: Radio station director arrested

IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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ACTION ALERT - NIGER

13 August 2004

Radio station director arrested

SOURCE: Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Accra

(MFWA/IFEX) - On 12 August 2004, Moussa Kaka, director of the independent
radio station Saraounia FM and correspondent of Radio France International,
was arrested by agents of the Gendarmerie in the capital, Niamey. Kaka was
picked up at about 12:00 p.m. GMT at the station and is being held
incommunicado.

The security officers also searched Kaka's office and home, confiscating
address books and other documents.

According to MFWA sources in Niger, Kaka was arrested after Saraounia FM
broadcast a telephone interview with the head of a new rebel movement in its
11 August afternoon news bulletin. The group had claimed responsibility for
armed attacks in the north of the country.

On 10 August, on the evening before the broadcast, armed men had attacked
three transport buses between Agadez and Arlit, 1,100 km north of Niamey.
The armed men killed three of the passengers, seriously injured 14 others
and took hostage two gendarmes accompanying the transport buses.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Send appeals to authorities:
- condemning the arbitrary arrest and detention of Kaka, the search of his
home and the confiscation of his personal documents without a search warrant
- noting that his incommunicado detention is a violation of his right to
legal counsel
- urging the government of President Mamadou Tandja to pursue Kaka through
legal channels if it can demonstrate probable cause for any offence he may
have committed in the course of his journalistic investigations

APPEALS TO:

M. Tandja Mamadou
Président de la République
[President of the Republic]
Tel: +227 72 24 72
Fax: +227 73 34 30 / 72 45 29

M. Hama Amadou
Premier ministre
Leader de la majorité
[Prime Minister]
Tel: +227 72 35 76
Fax: +227 73 58 59

Professeur Harouna Sidikou
Ministre de la Communication
[Minister of Communications]
Tel: +227 73 53 57
Fax: +227 72 21 71

M. Maty Elhadji Moussa
Ministre de la justice
Garde des Sceaux
[Minister of Justice]
Tel: +227 72 31 31
Fax: +227 7237 77

Mme Aichatou Mindaoudou
Ministre des Affaires Etrangères
[Minister of Foreign Affairs]
Tel: +227 72 21 49
Fax: +227 73 52 31

M. Albadé Abouba
Ministre de l'Intérieur et de la décentralisation
[Minister of the Interior and Decentralisation]
Tel: +227 72 32 10
Fax: +227 72 32 62

M. Mahamane Ousmane
Président de l'Assemblée Nationale
[National Assembly Speaker]
Tel: +227 72 22 85
Fax: +227 72 43 08 / 72 28 04
E-mail: [email protected]

M. Issoufou Mahamadou
Leader de l'opposition
[Leader of the Opposition]
Tel: +227 74 09 50
Fax: +227 73 41 42
E-mail: [email protected]

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

For further information, contact Jeannette Quarcoopome, Media Foundation for
West Africa, P.O. Box LG 730, Legon, Ghana, tel.: +233 21 24 24 70, fax:
+231 21 22 10 84, e-mail: [email protected], Internet:
http://www.mfwaonline.org

The information contained in this action alert is the sole responsibility of
MFWA. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit
MFWA.
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