Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Burkina Faso’s military rulers to release three journalists arrested this week and held in an undisclosed location.
The arrests come amid an escalating crackdown on critics of the junta, which seized power in 2022.
On Tuesday, authorities dissolved the Burkina Journalists’ Association (AJB), a day after police detained its president, Guezouma Sanogo, and his deputy, Boukari Ouoba.
A third journalist, Luc Pagbelguem, was also taken in for questioning, according to his employer, the private BF1 channel.
Sanogo had recently condemned attacks on press freedom in a speech at an AJB congress, a move that seemingly triggered the government’s response.
HRW stated that colleagues searched for Sanogo and Ouoba at multiple police and gendarmerie stations but found no trace of them.
Authorities have not provided any information on their whereabouts, raising fears of enforced disappearances.
Pagbelguem, who reported on Sanogo’s remarks, remains missing as well.
Burkina Faso’s broadcast regulator has since suspended him for two weeks without pay and fined BF1 $800, prompting the channel to issue an apology for covering the AJB event.
“The military junta should take immediate action to locate and release the three journalists,” said Ilaria Allegrozzi, HRW’s senior Sahel researcher.
“The authorities should change course and end their brutal crackdown against journalists, dissidents, and political opponents.”
Burkina Faso’s government has not responded to HRW’s appeal.
