The correspondent for the German radio station Deutsche Welle in Niger, Gazali Abdou, was imprisoned on Friday in Niamey, AFP learned from the media outlet.

Niger has been ruled for more than two years by a military regime whose repression of dissenting voices and the press is regularly denounced by international NGOs.

Gazali Abdou's imprisonment comes the day after the "provisional release" of Ali Soumana, head of the weekly newspaper Le Courrier.

He had spent more than four months in pre-trial detention following a complaint by the Nigerien Prime Minister, cited in an article published by the weekly on a "cigarette fraud" case involving "several billion CFA francs" (several million euros) and implicating several other personalities.

"A Deutsche Welle employee has been arrested," the German radio station's spokesman confirmed to AFP.

Although Deutsche Welle did not provide details on the reasons for Mr. Abdou's imprisonment, it reportedly followed, according to testimonies from his relatives on social media, "the production of a report on the living conditions of Nigerian refugees currently residing in Niamey."

This report, produced in Hausa and published on January 15 on the Deutsche Welle website, shows dozens of "Nigerian migrants and refugees," mostly women and children, taking refuge in cemeteries or abandoned buildings in the capital, sitting on the ground under a blazing sun.

"The site where we sleep has been burned down and we have lost everything, including food that the Red Cross gave us," laments a young refugee interviewed.

The following Tuesday, the Nigerien foreign minister received a delegation from the Nigerian embassy to discuss "the situation of approximately 1,300 Nigerian refugees living in Niamey," acknowledging their "particularly painful situation," according to a statement from the ministry.

In September, the Nigerien justice system sentenced Hassane Zada, a journalist and figure in civil society, to 30 months in prison for "insulting remarks" against the head of the junta, General Abdourahamane Tiani.

According to the NGO Amnesty International, violations of civil and political rights have increased in Niger since the coup.

Niger ranks 83rd out of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index. It has fallen three places in 2025.

AFP