The publisher of a Senegalese private daily, Le Courrier, has been arrested and his paper shut down by police for yet unclear reasons, the paper’s editor said on Friday.
Pape Amadou Gaye was picked up from his office on Thursday evening by six officers of the criminal investigation division who said they had instructions to arrest the director, the paper’s editor-in-chief, Sekou Diatta, said.
Police immediately put the paper’s offices under lock-and-key.
Gaye had on Tuesday written an article critical of the government on the rising cost of living in the West African country and the difficulties rural-based Senegalese face to make ends meet.
Police spokespersons said they were unaware of Gaye’s arrest.
Gaye’s arrest comes less than a month after that of Moussa Gueye, detained early last month pending a trial for ”publishing false information” in his L’Exclusif newspaper about President Abdoulaye Wade’s ”nocturnal escapades”.
Another of L’Exclusif‘s employees, Pape Moussa Doukar, believed to have been the author of the article, was later arrested in the past month, according to local media.
The two newspapers have limited readership.
Many independent papers, some of them highly critical of government, operate freely in Senegal, but several journalists have been prosecuted and convicted in recent years for various offenses, varying from defamation to insulting the head of state. — Sapa-AFP