The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has demanded the unconditional release of Moussa Kaka, the Niger correspondent for Radio France International (RFI), who has been jailed for one year for his alleged links with rebels. The global media freedom watchdog said in a communiqué received by PANA in Dakar on Saturday that Kaka was jailed after the Niger authorities accused him of having links with Tuareg rebels in the northern part of the country, despite the ruling of two judges that the journalist should be released. “Moussa has paid too much for an offense that there is no evidence he has committed,” said Gabriel Baglo, IFJ’s Director for Africa Office. “His contact with the Tuareg rebels was only in his professional capacity as a journalist and posed no danger to anyone,” he argued. “We demand his unconditional release and all the charges against him to be dropped.” Kaka, who is also the director of Niger-based privately-owned Radio Saraouniya, was arrested on 20 September 2007 and held on charges of endangering the safety of the state for suspected links with Tuareg rebels.
