'You say one bad word, you’re in jail': Journalists hunted as Ivory Coast elections near
Journalists and opposition activists in Côte d’Ivoire are facing a mounting crackdown in the lead-up to the presidential election, according to press freedom groups and human rights observers.
Reports have emerged of journalists being detained, news outlets targeted, and peaceful protesters met with force, creating what one reporter calls a “climate of fear” ahead of the October 25 vote.
The government of President Alassane Ouattara has banned opposition demonstrations and moved aggressively against media seen as sympathetic to the opposition, drawing condemnation from organisations like Reporters Without Borders (RSF) and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).
“If you want to say something about him, it must be something good. If you say something bad, you go to jail,” an Ivorian journalist told Global South World in a confidential interview. “All the journalists here, if you see them talking about this guy, it means their mouth is open to say something good about the president. In this case, no problem.”
His concerns mirror reports from press freedom groups like Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists, both of which have documented assaults, detentions, and surveillance of the media.
Most recently, 237 protestors were arrested during demonstrations on October 11, some of them journalists. “Some people from the media have been caught by him… they did not want them to be there to take some pictures or to take notes… some have been sent to jail,” the journalist said.
Those on the frontlines of documenting these events – journalists – have themselves become targets. Press freedom monitors report multiple cases of reporters being assaulted, arrested, or intimidated while covering the political unrest.
In early November 2020, amid the post-election crisis of that year, police raided the home of former President Henri Konan Bédié (then an opposition leader) and arrested at least 20 people, including a journalist on the scene.
Yao Alex Hallane Clément, a reporter for the privately owned PDCI 24 TV (aligned with Bédié’s opposition party), was taken into custody during that raid despite identifying himself as press.
He was held without charge for seven days – much of it at the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance (DST), a facility typically used for terror suspects – and interrogated about his coverage, as authorities accused him of being an opposition “propagandist”
Although Côte d’Ivoire passed a press law in 2017 abolishing prison terms for journalists, authorities have found other means to punish media content. In July 2022, investigative journalist Noël Konan was convicted of defamation and fined 3 million CFA francs (about $4,600) over a tweet alleging corruption, using a legal provision (Article 89 of the press law) that press advocates say should not be used to criminalise reporters’ speech
Authorities have shown little willingness to compromise, maintaining that the election will proceed as planned and warning that further “illegal” protests will be prevented. Interior Minister Diomandé justified the ban by saying it was necessary to “maintain public order” during the tense pre-election period.
This story is written and edited by the Global South World team, you can contact us here.
