Mali’s civic space continues to shrink under military rule, with repeated waves of repression targeting defenders and journalists in recent months.
The pattern continued on 14 September, when Abdrahamane Kéita, publication director of the newspaper Le Témoin, was sentenced to two years in prison and a fine of roughly €1,500 by Mali’s National Unit for the Fight Against Cybercrime. His offence: commenting on the security situation in northern Mali during a television programme, where he referenced the presence of an armed group in the city of Kidal, a claim he said echoed a term already used by another guest on the show. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemned the verdict, warning it “sends a particularly worrying signal to media professionals in Mali and across the region,” and called on authorities to stop weaponising the justice system against journalists. Kéita is not an isolated case: in August, Chahana Takiou of 22 Septembre was sentenced to a year in prison after denouncing the same cybercrime law, and in March, Youssouf Sissoko of L’Alternance received a two-year sentence over an article critical of a regional head of state. RSF’s 2026 World Press Freedom Index recorded its sharpest-ever decline in the legal indicator this year, a trend Mali’s National Unit for the Fight Against Cybercrime exemplifies.
In June 2026, journalist Malick Konaté and activist Kadidia Fofana were placed on Mali’s national list of targeted financial sanctions, freezing their assets under counter-terrorism legislation despite no connection to violence. Konaté, director of the online outlet Horon TV, has lived in exile since 2022 after death threats over his reporting on corruption; Fofana, who has led the women’s rights collective Les Amazones since 2018, fled Mali in 2023 amid harassment and arrest threats.
Weeks later, Malian courts handed down harsh sentences to four more defenders and journalists. Radio host Mohamed Youssouf Bathily (“Ras Bath”) and activist Sidibé Rokia Doumbia were sentenced to 10 years each, seven without parole, after years of judicial harassment over their public criticism of the authorities; both had already spent over three years in detention. Activist Adama Ben Diarra and journalist Chahana Takiou received additional prison sentences the same week, with Diarra facing renewed charges just as an earlier sentence was ending.
Since the 2020 and 2021 coups, and amid a deteriorating security situation, Malian authorities have increasingly turned to courts, asset freezes and cybercrime charges to silence critical voices and deter public scrutiny. We stand with all those targeted and call for the immediate end of judicial and administrative harassment against human rights defenders and journalists in Mali.
