Burkina Faso authorities accused of secretly detaining prominent journalist

A media rights group has accused Burkina Faso’s military authorities of arbitrarily detaining and mistreating a prominent investigative journalist who has been missing for nearly two years.

In a report on Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said Atiana Serge Oulon was abducted from his home on June 24, 2024 by some 10 armed men in civilian clothing. The authorities later said the publication director of L’Evenement had been conscripted into the military.

But RSF said its investigation had found that at least until the end of 2025, Oulon “was detained, held captive, and subjected to violence” inside a villa in the capital, Ouagadougou, that had been turned into a makeshift prison holding dozens of people.

“This secret detention contradicts the account provided by the authorities,” RSF said, calling the alleged forced conscription “merely a smokescreen to conceal his captivity”.

The watchdog alleged detainees at the heavily guarded house faced threats of execution, unnecessary violence – including beatings by guards using tree branches as whips – and food deprivation.

“We slept directly on the floor, and we wore the same clothes for months. We drank water from the toilets,” a former prisoner was quoted as saying by the watchdog.

Calling for Oulon’s immediate release, RSF said the journalist had been in the military authorities’ sights crosshairs since 2022, when he accused a senior army officer of embezzlement.

The advocacy group said the minister of communication did not respond to its contact requests.

There was no immediate reaction by the government to the RSF’s report.

Last month, Captain Ibrahim Traore, who seized power in a 2022 coup, told journalists, “Everyone is free to say what they want and to give their opinion”.

Also in April, the military government banned the activities more than 100 associations and civil society groups, a move that followed the dissolution of all political parties.

Rights groups have accused the government of cracking down on dissent and restricting civic space, including restrictions on press freedom and forced conscription of critics to fight armed groups.

Burkina Faso has been gripped by a security crisis that has spread across the western portion of the Sahel region, including a years-long battle with armed groups linked to al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS). Authorities have accused NGOs with international funding of “spying and treason”.