Pape Alé Niang
Pape Alé Niang is a human rights defender and investigative journalist. The human rights defender is also the director of the information website Dakar Matin, and is known for this regular articles on Senegalese news.
Macky Sall was elected as President for a second term in the 2019 elections. President Sall’s first seven-year term in office was marked by restrictions to the work of HRDs. HRDs working on transparency and accountability have particularly been subjected to repression and judicial harassment for speaking out.
Freedom of expression and the media is generally respected but journalists occasionally practice self-censorship, particularly in the government-controlled media. The adoption of a press code in June 2017 criminalizes press offences and provides for the confiscation of equipment and material and the closure of media outlets for threats to state security. It allows for restriction of access to online content deemed to be “contrary to morality”, to “degrade honour” or to be “patently unlawful”.
