Mali: Author Activist Remains Arbitrarily Detained

Over the past three years, the shrinking of civic space in Mali has been characterized by violations of human rights including the rights to freedom of expression, association, information and press freedom. Mali has been governed since 2021 by military officers who took control from the democratically elected government of President Keita in 2020 following protests, and then removed the civilian transitional authorities from power in May 2021, following disagreements.

Human rights defenders, activists and opposition leaders who publicly expressed their disagreement with the decisions taken by the transitional authorities have been arbitrarily arrested, detained, and prosecuted since 2022.

This isn’t the first time Professor Étienne Sissoko has been targeted by the authorities. On 16 January 2022, he was arrested by the prosecutorial office of the District Court of Commune 4 of Bamako for comments tending toward ‘’stigmatization or regionalist, ethnic or religious discrimination with the aim of pitting citizens against each other using ICTs," after he spoke on TV about the impact of ECOWAS sanctions in Mali. He was provisionally released in June 2022 and banned from leaving the country.

On 10 April 2024, the Council of Ministers issued a decree suspending the activities of political parties and associations” until further notice. A day after, Mali's high authority for communication issued a notice announcing a ban on reporting and broadcasting activities of political parties or association. On 10 July 2024, the authorities lifted the suspension.

Since February 2024, at least three organisations have been dissolved including the Pupils and Students’ Association of Mali (AEEM).