A Malian journalist was sentenced on Monday to two years in prison by a court in Bamako for publishing an article criticizing the head of the ruling junta in neighboring Niger, amid restrictions on freedoms in that country ruled with an iron fist by the military.

Youssouf Sissoko, editor of the Malian newspaper L'Alternance, published an article on February 2nd criticizing the head of Niger's junta, Abdourahamane Tiani, for accusing France, Ivory Coast, and Benin of involvement in an attack on Niamey airport in late January. This attack was claimed by the jihadist group Islamic State.

The article, signed by another journalist, accused Mr. Tiani of lying and of making Niger, where a junta took power in 2023 and has moved closer to Russia, a "laboratory for toxic political experimentation".

Mr. Sissoko was arrested on February 5 and placed in detention for "spreading false information, damaging the reputation of the State and insulting a foreign head of state", according to the Association of Private Press Publishers of Mali (ASSEP).

On Monday, the court of the national cybercrime unit sentenced the journalist to two years in prison and ordered him to pay one million CFA francs (1,500 euros) in damages.

"The verdict is not at all in favour of appeasement. We will appeal," Boubacar Yalkoué, president of ASSEP, told AFP.

The association also expressed its "deep indignation" and denounced a "worrying setback for freedom of expression and freedom of the press" in a statement.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) denounced a "serious violation of press freedom" and called for the "immediate release" of Youssouf Sissoko, in a statement sent to AFP on Monday.

Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso are led by juntas that came to power through coups d'état between 2020 and 2023, and have since formed a confederation, the Alliance of Sahel States (AES).

As a former colonial power, France maintains frosty relations with the military regimes of the Sahel, all three of which have withdrawn its army from their territory. These Sahelian juntas regularly target Paris with their invective.

Mali is ranked 119th out of 180 countries and territories in RSF’s 2025 World Press Freedom Index.