Following the warning of columnist Badara Gadiaga, who was arrested by the Special Division of Cybercrime after a long hearing, the citizen movement La Nouvelle Responsabilité de Amadou Ba reacted with firmness, denouncing a serious violation of freedom of expression in Senegal. In a statement made public and carried by its coordinator Moïse Sarr, le mouvement estime que M. Gadiaga only exercised a fundamental right, recognized in every democracy: that of expressing oneself freely on public affairs. Amadou Ba et Cie consider that depriving a citizen of his liberty by reason of a speech is a “disturbing drift” which must not be trivialised. “Free speech should never be criminalized, even less when it is exercised in the media space, which is a pillar of democratic debate”, the communiqué states. The movement is concerned about what it calls the tendency to intimidate and repress critical voices in public space, believing that such practices weaken the democratic acquis of Senegal.
Badara Gadiaga arrested: The former Prime Minister, Amadou Ba, in a couch
