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Burkina Faso's authorities accused of secretly detaining investigative ...
DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — Burkina Faso’s authorities secretly held and abused a prominent investigative journalist and dozens of others in a makeshift detention facility in the capital, an international advocacy group said Wednesday, in the latest crackdown on political dissent in the West African nation.Reporters Without Borders said Atiana Serge Oulon, editor of the newspaper L’Evenement, was taken from his home in June 2024 by several armed men in civilian clothes. Burkina Faso’s military junta later said he had been conscripted into military service.Instead, according to the advocacy group, former detainees said Oulon and up to 40 other people were being held in a heavily guarded house in the capital, Ouagadougou, as of late 2025, contradicting the government’s claim. They reported sleeping on bare floors, having to drink toilet water and being beaten by guards wielding ropes and tree branches. Oulon’s current location is unknown. Reporters Without Borders said it had shared its findings with Burkina Faso’s government, which didn’t respond.The group said Oulon had been in the junta’s crosshairs since 2022, when he released an investigation accusing an army captain of embezzlement. The group called for the journalist’s immediate release. 2 MIN READ The advocacy group said the junta’s inner circle appears directly involved in the detentions, with a security officer for junta leader Capt. Ibrahim Traoré personally briefing detainees before their release and warning them not to speak out. Since seizing power in a 2022 coup, Burkina Faso’s junta has cracked down on political dissent and journalists, shutting down independent media outlets and forcibly conscripting dissidents into the army to fight Islamic militants.Human Rights Watch said in an April report that under Traoré, the junta has carried out a broad crackdown, fostering “an atmosphere of terror and severely restricting the flow of information.”
Burkina Faso authorities accused of secretly detaining prominent ...
Reporters Without Borders says investigation found Atiana Serge Oulon held at Ouagadougou villa, contradicting authorities’ account.A media rights group has accused Burkina Faso’s military authorities of arbitrarily detaining and mistreating a prominent investigative journalist who has been missing for nearly two years.In a report on Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Atiana Serge Oulon was abducted from his home on June 24, 2024 by some 10 armed men in civilian clothing. The authorities later said the publication director of L’Evenement had been conscripted into the military.But RSF said its investigation had found that at least until the end of 2025, Oulon “was detained, held captive, and subjected to violence” inside a villa in the capital, Ouagadougou, that had been turned into a makeshift prison holding dozens of people.“This secret detention contradicts the account provided by the authorities,” RSF said, calling the alleged forced conscription “merely a smokescreen to conceal his captivity”.The watchdog alleged detainees at the heavily guarded house faced threats of execution, unnecessary violence – including beatings by guards using tree branches as whips – and food deprivation.“We slept directly on the floor, and we wore the same clothes for months. We drank water from the toilets,” a former prisoner was quoted as saying by the watchdog.Calling for Oulon’s immediate release, RSF said the journalist had been in the military authorities’ sights crosshairs since 2022, when he accused a senior army officer of embezzlement.The advocacy group said the minister of communication did not respond to its contact requests.There was no immediate reaction by the government to the RSF’s report.Last month, Captain Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in a 2022 coup, told journalists, “Everyone is free to say what they want and to give their opinion”.Also in April, the military government banned the activities more than 100 associations and civil society groups, a move that followed the dissolution of all political parties.Rights groups have accused the government of cracking down on dissent and restricting civic space, including restrictions on press freedom and forced conscription of critics to fight armed groups.Burkina Faso has been gripped by a security crisis that has spread across the western portion of the Sahel region, including a years-long battle with armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). Authorities have accused NGOs with internation...
Burkina Faso junta secretly held and abused journalist Atiana Serge ...
Burkina Faso's authorities secretly held and abused a prominent investigative journalist and dozens of others in a makeshift detention facility in the capital, an international advocacy group said ...
Meet three journalists from the Central Sahel who have been silenced by ...
Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger, the Central Sahel countries each governed by military authorities that came to power through coups, are confronted by an armed conflict and a humanitarian crisis. Against this backdrop, the media face unprecedented repression, with the authorities imposing an ...
