Mali jails junta-critic broadcaster, influencer for seven years

A Malian court sentenced on Monday a prominent broadcaster and an influencer, who had both criticised the ruling junta, to seven years in jail, an AFP journalist saw.

The sentences are the latest issued to Malians critical of the unstable west African country's military government, which came to power following back-to-back coups in 2020 and 2021.

Television and radio commentator Mohamed Youssouf Bathily -- alias Ras Bath -- was convicted by the court in Bamako of criminal conspiracy and discrediting the state, alongside Rokia Doumbia, a noted campaigner known online as "Rose, the cost of living".

Both had been in custody for several years following the airing of a 2023 programme by the journalist dedicated to the economic difficulties facing ordinary Malians.

They were given three years' suspended sentences on top of their seven-year jail terms.

Having been held since March 2023, Ras Bath's emaciated and gaunt features shocked many Malians when he took the stand in his trial, which opened on August 10 at the Bamako Court of Appeal's criminal chamber.

Two lawyers told AFP on condition of anonymity that the prosecutor had told the court that "Ras Bath is a danger" to the junta and "must be kept a long way from social media and the radio".

Prosecutors alleged the broadcaster and influencer were "in association" with each other, with Ras Bath having invited "Rose" onto his show on two previous occasions.

Ras Bath's lawyers denied the accusations.

The broadcaster's father, former government minister Mohamed Aly Bathily, who was also serving as his son's defence counsel, told AFP that they had not yet decided whether to appeal.

With the motto "shock to educate", a direct and plain-speaking style and criticism of Mali's social and political problems, Ras Bath has earned both a strong following, especially among the country's many younger people, and several run-ins with the law.

He was first arrested in Mali in August 2016 for "incitement to disobedience among the troops" before being released two days later under pressure from his supporters.

In July 2017, while abroad, he was sentenced in absentia to 12 months in prison, without serving any time.

He also took part in the 2020 M5-RFP protest movement against president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, who was later overthrown by army officers on the promise of curbing the country's long-running jihadist insurgency.

In December 2020, the broadcaster was arrested again in a case involving an alleged plot against the junta. After the case was dismissed for lack of evidence, he regained his freedom in April 2021.

In July 2023, he was acquitted of separate charges that he falsely claimed that former prime minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga had been "assassinated" while in detention under the junta.

Since coming to power, the army has imposed severe restrictions on freedoms in Mali, squeezing the space for dissident voices through the courts, coercion and the dissolution of political parties.

Under General Assimi Goita, the junta has failed to keep its promise to hand power back to civilians by March 2024.

Mali ranks 121st out of 180 countries in the 2026 edition of media watchdog Reporters Without Borders' World Press Freedom Index.

The Sahel country has been wracked since 2012 by a serious security crisis, notably fuelled by violence from jihadists allied to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, along with criminal gangs and armed separatists.