Niger frees journalist after months in pretrial detention

ABIDJAN – A journalist from a prominent private radio station in northern Niger was freed on Friday after more than a year in detention, local media said.

Niger has been ruled since 2023 by a military regime that overthrew elected president Mohamed Bazoum and has jailed journalists, activists and civil society figures.

“Our colleague Hamid Mahmoud from Radio Sahara FM in Agadez… was freed on Friday,” an association representing several private media outlets in Niger told AFP.

In May 2025, Mahmoud was arrested with two other journalists from Radio Sahara FM for reporting on alleged breaches of security contracts linking Niger to Russia.

The junta, like the military governments in Burkina Faso and Mali, has severed ties with former colonial ruler France and moved closer to Moscow.

Mahmoud’s release was confirmed on Friday by Air Info, which belongs to the same media group as Radio Sahara FM.

Air Info said Mahmoud was placed in pretrial detention in Kollo, near Niamey, accused of “undermining national defence” and “conspiracy against state authority”.

His colleague Mahaman Sani was freed in August 2025, while the other, Massaouda Jaharou, was released on bail.

On Wednesday, the authorities freed two journalists who had been in jail since November 2025.

Thirteen journalists were arrested in the Sahel country in 2025, according to the United Nations, including six on the same charges as Mahmoud.

Another was put behind bars for an article on cigarette fraud allegedly worth millions of dollars that implicated several prominent figures, including Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine.

Several have since been released but Ibro Chaibou, a journalist for private TV channel Saraounia, remains in jail.

Niger has dropped 37 places in the press freedom ranking compiled by the NGO Reporters Without Borders, coming 120th out of 180 countries this year.