Lagos, Nigeria - The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called for the release of a journalist who was detained by the Malian authorities on Wednesday.
'The arbitrary arrest of Boukary Daou is another example of Malian security agents acting outside the law in trying to harass journalists,' CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator Mohamed Keita said in a statement obtained by PANA here Thursday.
'We call on the government to immediately release Daou,' he said.
According to the New York-based CPJ, the journalist was arrested and detained by state security agents in Mali, in connection with his newspaper's publication of an open letter criticising a financial package awarded to a former coup leader, Capt. Amadou Sanogo
Six agents of State Security, Mali's intelligence agency, arrested Daou, a top editor for the daily Le Républicain, in the capital, Bamako.
, according to Assane Koné, the paper's editor-in-chief. Koné told CPJ that several journalists went to the agency's headquarters to inquire about Daou, but officials denied having him in custody. Local journalists and news reports, which cited an unnamed Malian security official, later confirmed the journalist's detention.
A presidential decree in January had named Sanogo the head of a committee tasked with reforming Mali's security forces and awarded him a salary and other perks that made him the top paid official in the country.
At least three journalists have been harassed by State Security agents since the March 2012 coup, CPJ said.
Pana 07/03/2013