Senegal - October 2025

The signal of 7TV and Radio Futurs Médias (RFM) were cut and two of their prominent journalists were arrested after conducting interviews with Madiambal Diagne, a journalist critical of the government, who is the subject of an international arrest warrant in connection with a corruption investigation, having fled to France in September. Maïmouna Ndour Faye, 7TV’s managing director, was arrested on 28 October shortly before a pre-recorded interview with Diagne was due to air, by gendarmes who also cut off the channel’s signal. She was reported to have been arrested for ‘undermining state security and the authority of the judiciary.’ A similar series of events unfolded the following day, with RFM’s editor-in-chief Babacar Fall arrested after conducting a live interview with Diagne. Both journalists were released without charge, but as of 31 October the signals for 7TV and RFM remained suspended on digital terrestrial television. Media investigations suggest that the suspensions did not comply with media regulations. 

Sources: Jeune Afrique (1), Reporters Without Borders, Jeune Afrique (2)