{"id":9154,"date":"2024-05-22T09:21:42","date_gmt":"2024-05-22T09:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=9154"},"modified":"2024-05-22T09:21:42","modified_gmt":"2024-05-22T09:21:42","slug":"mali-professor-jailed-for-criticizing-the-junta","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=9154","title":{"rendered":"Mali: Professor jailed for criticizing the junta"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>1 Minute, 52 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>

A prominent Malian economist and professor has been sentenced to two years in jail, one of which was suspended, for his criticism of the military junta.<\/p>\n

\u00c9tienne Fakaba Sissoko was also ordered to pay a fine of 3m CFA francs ($4,900; \u00a33,900).<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old academic, who has been in custody since March, was charged with defamation and damaging the state\u2019s reputation by distributing fake news.<\/p>\n

The charges relate to a book he published last year, which he defended in court, saying the work was based on fact.<\/p>\n

Human rights groups say this is the latest case in a widespread crackdown on critics and political opponents of the military rulers.<\/p>\n

They came to power in August 2020 when then-President Ibrahim Boubacar Ke\u00efta was overthrown in a coup after huge anti-government protests over his handling of jihadist unrest.<\/p>\n

Sissoko\u2019s lawyer, Ibrahim Marhouf Sacko, said he was \u201cnot surprised\u201d by the verdict and would be filing an appeal, the AFP news agency reported.<\/p>\n

The University of Bamako professor once served as an adviser to the late Mr Ke\u00efta and spent several months in jail in 2022, according to AFP.<\/p>\n

The work that prompted his latest arrest is called Propaganda, Agitation and Harassment \u2013 Government Communication During the Transition in Mali.<\/p>\n

It accuses the junta of using manipulation and \u201ceven lies\u201d to sway public opinion in its favour.<\/p>\n

Before his arrest, Sissoko also published a post on Facebook calling for elections to be held.<\/p>\n

The junta has faced criticism for reneging on agreed timelines for transitioning to democratic civilian rule. Elections due to be held in February were again postponed.<\/p>\n

Critics also say the military-led government has failed to adequately tackle the worsening jihadist insurgency, despite the reported deployment of Wagner group mercenaries and expulsion of UN peacekeepers.<\/p>\n

It has also faced criticism over its handling of the economy.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, participants in what has been termed a \u201cnational dialogue\u201d suggested the extension of the transition period by another three years.<\/p>\n

Several junta critics have been jailed over the last year, including popular social media influencer Rokia Doumbia and prominent activist Adama Ben Diarra.<\/p>\n

In April, the junta also suspended political activities and imposed a media blackout on political coverage.<\/p>

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A prominent Malian economist and professor has been sentenced to two years in jail, one of which was suspended, for his criticism of the military junta. \u00c9tienne Fakaba Sissoko was… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9153"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}