Mali detains 3 for allegedly insulting interim prime minister

KIGALI, Rwanda

Police in Mali have detained three people for allegedly insulting transitional Prime Minister Choguel Kokalla Maiga, their lawyers said Tuesday.

Oumar Mariko, president of the African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence (SADI) party, Bakary Camara, a journalist for Radio Kayira, a privately owned radio station, and Boubacar Soumaoro, a youth activist, are being held in the capital Bamako.

They are being prosecuted for “insults committed through an information and communication system, violation of the secrecy of communication and dissemination of insults and threats,” the lawyers said in a statement.

Mariko is accused of having uttered insults against Maiga during a conversation with Camara on WhatsApp.

The recording was then reportedly broadcast on social networks by Camara and Soumaoro.

But in the statement, the lawyers said the trio was being held illegally, in violation of the rule of law, freedoms and the private and confidential nature of the conservation in question.

Mariko’s political party SADI is not represented in the government and the National Transitional Council (CNT).

But the party announced its participation in a national conference scheduled for Dec. 27-30 organized by the junta as a prerequisite before setting an election date.

In October, police arrested the vice president of the National Transitional Council, Issa Kaou N'Djim, over “subversive remarks” made on social media.

His arrest came days after he had criticized the head of the Malian government after Mali's decision to declare "persona non grata" the special representative of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Mali, Hamidou Boly.

Kaou N'Djim is also known for his sharp criticism of Maiga.