An appeal court in Zinder, Niger’s second largest city, has released Ibrahim Manzo Diallo, managing editor of the bi-monthly newspaper Air Info, after 121 days in detention, a sub-regional media freedom watchdog said on Friday. According to Accra-based Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the court’s decision followed a request filed by Diallo’s counsel, Moussa Coulibaly, seeking his release, “because the prosecution had failed to provide evidence to warrant his continued stay in prison”. The journalist was arrested and detained for allegedly “conspiring with a movement to undermine national security”. Following a complaint filed by the authorities in Niger, Diallo was arrested on 9 October last year at his home in the northern town of Ingall and detained at the Agadez civil prison. He has since been charged with criminal conspiracy. In early 2007, a Tuareg armed group, Mouvement des Nigériens pour la Justice “MNJ” (the Niger Movement for Justice) launched a rebellion in the country. The government outlawed the group and banned the media from covering its activities. Several journalists have been arrested for flouting the government’s order.
