Share an invitation to a state-sponsored press briefing in Niger and face jail time. That’s the reality for six Nigerien journalists who were arrested last month in the military junta’s latest assault on media freedom. Click to expand Image The journalists Omar Kane, left, Ibro Chaibou, top right, and Youssouf Seriba, bottom right. © Private On October 30, police in Niamey, Niger’s capital, arrested Moussa Kaka and Abdoul Aziz of Saraounia TV; Ibro Chaibou and Souleymane Brah from the online publication Voice of the People; Youssouf Seriba of Les Échos du Niger; and Oumarou Kané, founder of the magazine Le Hérisson. Three of them—Chaibou, Seriba, and Kané—have been detainedin Kollo prison, outside Niamey.Colleagues believe the arrests were linked to the circulation on social media of an invitation to a press briefing sent by the president of Niger’s Solidarity Fund for the Safeguarding of the Homeland. The fund was created following the July 2023 military coup, and the junta says it uses the fund to raise money for the state security forces. At the press briefing, authorities announced new, expanded mandatory payments to the fund. The invitation was subsequently widely shared on social media by those critical of the new levies.The authorities have accused the six journalists of releasing the invitation to the general public and charged them with “complicity in distributing documents likely to disturb public order” under the 2019 cybercrime law. The junta amended the law in 2024 to reinstate prison sentences of up to five years as well as fines for the “production or dissemination of data that may disturb public order or threaten human dignity.” The junta has used the vaguely worded law to prosecute journalists and silence critics.Since the coup, Niger’s junta has restricted media freedom, threatening, harassing, and arbitrarily arresting journalists. Many now practice self-censorship amid fear of reprisals. The junta has also cracked down on the political opposition and civil society groups, and continues to arbitrarily detain former President Mohamed Bazoum and his wife, and human rights defender Moussa Tiangari. In August, the junta dissolved four major justice-sector unions, undermining workers’ rights to freedom of association and the independence of the judiciary.Niger’s authorities should immediately release Chaibou, Seriba, and Kané, drop the charges against all six journalists, and repeal the amended cybercrime law. Otherwise, more journalists will face prosecution and prison time simply for sharing an invitation.