Campaign to Protect Activists and Journalists Under Threat in the Sahel

October 21, 2025 – Sahel – 

In recent years, the Sahel region—particularly in Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger—has seen increasing repression of independent expression. Journalists, civil society activists, and ordinary citizens face harassment, imprisonment, and even torture simply for raising critical views.

In Burkina Faso, journalist Idrissa Barry was abducted in March 2025 by men identifying themselves as state gendarmes. His detention followed his public criticism of human-rights abuses by armed forces and civilian defense volunteers. In Mali, anti-corruption campaigner Clément Dembélé has been jailed since November 2023 despite a judge having dismissed his case, and social-media influencer Rokiatou Doumbia has been detained since March 2023 after speaking out about rising living costs and insecurity. In Niger, Moussa Tchangari, organizing leader of a citizen-action group, was arrested in December 2024 during a period abroad and remains behind bars without proper legal recourse.

Amnesty International emphasizes that many of these detentions are arbitrary, justified under sweeping national-security claims rather than concrete legal standards. The resulting climate of fear undermines not only freedom of expression but the very foundations of democratic civic life.

The campaign calls on the authorities of Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger to immediately release detained human-rights defenders and journalists; locate and safely return those forcibly disappeared; and uphold the core rights of expression, association, and peaceful assembly across the region. Activists argue that such reforms are essential not only for individual safety but for restoring open civic space and allowing society to hold power to account.

By signing the petition, supporters around the world are joining a plea for justice, transparency, and respect for media and community voices in one of the world’s most dangerous zones for independent reporting.

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Stand with the activists and journalists persecuted in the sahel