His Excellency Mahamadou Issoufou 


President of Niger 


Niamey,

Niger 
  


5 February 2014 
  
  


Your Excellency, 
  


We are writing on behalf of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications, 15,000 online sites and over 3,000 companies in more than 120 countries, to express our serious concern at the detention of four journalists during January 2014.
  


We respectfully remind you that in November 2011, you became the first African head of state to endorse our Declaration of Table Mountain, which calls for greater press freedom in Africa and, in particular, the repeal of criminal defamation and insult laws across the continent. We refer specifically to Ordonnance 2010-035 of 4 June 2010, which outlines the repeal of criminal defamation laws and recognises that journalists must be allowed to practice their profession fully, without prejudice.


In that regard, we are concerned at what appears to be a systematic crackdown on independent media. On 29 January, Justice Minister Marou Amadou accused four journalists of issuing false accusations and "appeals to hatred and violence". Last week, in a press conference, Mr Amadou warned that the government would clamp down on critical coverage.

We are therefore seeking an explanation as to which laws the Justice Minister is referring to when he said the government would clamp down on critical coverage.

According to reports, on 27 January, judicial police in Niamey detained Ousmane Dambadji, editor of L'Union, and Zakari Abdou, presenter on Canal 3 TV for unspecified press offences and slandering the government. Their arrests followed the 23 January detention of Soumana Idrissa Maïga, editor of the daily l'Enquêteur, for “threatening national security” – reportedly for publishing an article on 17 January speculating that the ruling party's days in power may be coming to an end – and the 25 January detention of Abdoulaye Mamane, presenter of a talk show on Radio Télévision Bonferey, after a guest accused you of corruption. The guest was also detained. 

On 27 January, a magistrate ordered Mr Maïga and Mr Mamane to be released without charge.
  
We call on you to ensure that all charges are dropped against the four journalists and that the crackdown in critical media is halted. We urge to take all necessary steps to ensure that your country fully respects the principles of the Declaration of Table Mountain and its international obligations to freedom of expression.

We look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience and express our willingness to meet with representatives of your government, civil society and the relevant authorities to engage in a constructive dialogue to ensure that the principals of the Declaration of Table Mountain are maintained.

Yours sincerely,

Tomas Brunegård


President


World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers

Erik Bjerager
President
World Editors Forum