Two journalists in Burkina Faso were detained Monday and taken to an unknown destination after the media body to which they belong denounced attacks on freedom of expression, the association said.
Burkina has witnessed multiple kidnappings of individuals perceived as critical of the junta since a coup led by Captain Ibrahim Traore in 2022.
Earlier on Facebook, the Journalists’ Association of Burkina Faso said that members posing as intelligence police had just taken its president, Guezouma Sanogo, and deputy president, Boukari Ouoba, to an unidentified location.
The two men were taken into custody at a national press centre in the capital, Ouagadougou.
Sanogo denounced “attacks on the freedom of expression and the press” claiming they had “reached an unprecedented level” in remarks to the association’s congress on Friday.
A few of the seven journalists who were kidnapped last year are still missing, according to other journalists who spoke at the congress.
A political group said last week that five of its members, including a journalist, had been kidnapped after the group condemned massacres of civilians that were attributed to the army and affiliated militias.
Over the past week, recordings depicting scores of bloodied victims with their hands and feet bound have been shared on social media, drawing criticism from the political organisation SENS. Many of the bodies appear to be those of women, children, or the elderly.
Authorities in Burkina Faso have refuted claims that its army and affiliated militias have committed mass murders.
Several of the kidnappings have been denounced by international NGOs such as Reporters Without Borders and Amnesty International.
Additionally, they have documented instances of individuals being coerced into joining the security services to fight terrorists. This follows a mobilisation order in 2023 that, according to the NGOs, targets those who criticise the nation’s leaders.
Over the past 10 years, Burkina Faso has been enmeshed in a wave of violence that has been attributed to terrorists. This violence has originated in nearby Mali and Niger and has subsequently expanded beyond their borders.
