Malian prosecutors have requested a three-year prison sentence, with two years to be served, for journalist Abdrahamane Keïta over comments he made about the security situation in Kidal.
Keïta, director of the newspaper Le Témoin, appeared before Mali’s anti-cybercrime judicial unit on Monday, September 7, 2026. The state is also seeking 1.5 million CFA francs in damages.
He was arrested and detained on June 9, 2026, after saying during a television discussion that Kidal was being “administered” by the al-Qaeda-linked Group for the Support of Islam and Muslims (JNIM). The remark followed the withdrawal of Malian troops and the Russian Africa Corps from Kidal at the end of April 2026, after clashes with separatist and jihadist forces, which reportedly remain in control of the city.
Keïta, who has spent three months in detention, is accused of disseminating false information and committing a regionalist offence intended to undermine national unity and the credibility of the state.
His lawyers argued that the statement did not demonstrate any intention to divide the population. Keïta also told the court that he had repeated a term previously used by another participant during the televised discussion and had neither published nor disseminated false information. The court is expected to deliver its verdict on Monday, September 14, 2026.