Niger journalist freed after more than a year in detention

A journalist from Radio Sahara FM in northern Niger was freed on Friday after more than a year in detention, local media and a private media association said.

The association said Hamid Mahmoud, who worked for the Agadez-based station, had been released. Mahmoud was arrested in May 2025 with two other Radio Sahara FM journalists after reporting on alleged breaches of security contracts linking Niger to Russia.

Air Info, which belongs to the same media group as Radio Sahara FM, confirmed the release. It said Mahmoud had been held in pretrial detention in Kollo, near Niamey, on accusations of undermining national defence and conspiracy against state authority.

One of the two colleagues arrested with Mahmoud, Mahaman Sani, was freed in August 2025. The other, Massaouda Jaharou, was released on bail. Authorities also freed two journalists on Wednesday who had been jailed since November 2025.

Niger has been ruled since 2023 by a military regime that overthrew elected president Mohamed Bazoum. The authorities have jailed journalists, activists and civil society figures. The military government has cut ties with France and moved closer to Moscow, as have the military governments in Burkina Faso and Mali.

The United Nations said 13 journalists were arrested in Niger in 2025, including six on the same charges as Mahmoud. Another journalist was jailed over an article about cigarette fraud allegedly worth millions of dollars that implicated several prominent figures, including Prime Minister Ali Mahamane Lamine Zeine.

Several detained journalists have since been released, but Ibro Chaibou, a journalist for the private TV channel Saraounia, remains in jail. Reporters Without Borders ranked Niger 120th out of 180 countries in its press freedom ranking this year, down 37 places.