Nigeria, May 28 -- Dakar, May 27, 2026-CPJ welcomes the release of journalist and writer Rene Capain Bassene, who had been detained since 2018 in Senegal. Bassene was sentenced to life in prison on charges of complicity in murder and attempted murder, crimes that CPJ reporting found he could not have committed.

"CPJ is particularly pleased by Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye's decision to release journalist Rene Capain Bassene after more than eight years of unjust detention," said Moussa Ngom, CPJ's Francophone Africa representative. "The Senegalese president has sought to correct a grave miscarriage of justice against a journalist who has devoted his entire career to the resolution of the separatist conflict in Casaman...