Moussa Kaka
Moussa Kaka is a Nigerien radio journalist and director of Maradi based station Saraounia FM, as well as a correspondent for France's Radio [France International]. He has twice been arrested by the government of President Mamadou Tandja over his reporting. He is at the center of a 2008 court case by the Nigerien government over his 2007 interviews of Movement of Nigeriens for Justice rebels.
Journalistic career
In 1993, Moussa became Niger correspondent for France's Radio France International. At that time he was a print journalist for the Niamey based independent newspaper Le Républicain-Niger. In 2002, Kaka was named news director Saraounia FM, a radio station in the regional capitol of Maradi, where he had been employed since 2000. Niger has a strong radio press, as high illiteracy rates and low television broadcast coverage make it the dominant news medium for much of the nation. Despite instances of arrest and detention of journalists, West African observers generally judge Nigerien press to be independent and lively in attacking the government.2002 arrest
In 2002, Kaka was arrested for his reporting of a Nigerien Armed Forces mutiny in the regional capital of Diffa at the beginning of August 2002. On 23 August, Kaka was arrested and questioned at Niamey's Gendarmarie central headquarters In this instance he was released, along with several other journalists, within days. The Nigerien government said that journalists were being investigated for breach of laws covering "the dissemination, by any communications means, of reports or allegations liable to cast doubt on national defence operations." Kaka was also singled out in a national statement by the government. A public television broadcast during the coup attempt called Kaka and managing editor of Le Républicain Mamane Abou "stateless persons working for the opposition".2007-2008 arrest
In early 2007, a Tuareg based insurgency began in the north of the country. Tensions with foreign press ensued, and journalists were banned from reporting from the northern Agadez Region in June 2007. Kaka, as Radio France International's correspondent, was especially affected. RFI was banned from reporting from or broadcasting in Niger in June, as the government claimed they were biased towards the rebels. Kaka publicly claimed that his life was threatened on 14 July by the head of the Niger Armed Forces General Moumouni Boureima at a reception at the home of the French Ambassador to Niger.On 20 September 2007, Kaka was arrested after conducting three telephone interviews one of the leaders of the Niger Movement for Justice, one of the rebel groups, during his work as Niger correspondent of Radio France International. The Government of Niger recorded these telephone conversations and arrested Kaka for "complicity in endangering the security of the state". These charges correspond to treason, and carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. The initial charges were accepted, but the State Prosecuting Magistrate for the Niamey Region on 16 November 2007 refused to accept taped conversations as evidence, on the grounds that they were obtained illegally. The Nigerien Supreme Court conversely ruled in February 2008 that these tapes could be used as evidence. The Court further ruled that Kaka's rights were not breached by either the surveillance, the detention without trial, or the nature of the charges. On 23 June 2008, the prosecuting Magistrate ruled the Kaka could be provisionally released pending trial, a ruling that was immediately appealed by the government, meaning that the defendant remained imprisoned. One month later, the Magistrate ordered that his office drop all charges against Kaka, a ruling which the government also immediately appealed. On 19 August, the Niamey Appeals Court overturned the Magistrate's decisions. In September 2008, the State Prosecuting Magistrate for the Niamey Region proposed that Kaka's charges again be dropped and instead he be charged with "a breach of national territorial integrity through an entente with MNJ rebels", a lesser charge, but one which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.
On 7 October 2008 he was freed by the Niamey Magistrate's court provisionally, while awaiting trial.