Mali Lifts Joliba TV Suspension

Mali’s High Authority of Communication (HAC) has lifted a ban on one of the country’s major TV stations, Joliba TV News, which had been off the air since November 3.

A Thursday press release by the HAC says that the station has undertaken the measures necessary and “given sufficient guarantees to correct shortcomings noted by the High Authority of Communication.”

The statement added the decision was made “taking into account the mediation and appeals for clemency” from media associations, and with consideration of “the economic consequences of the suspension” on the station and its workers.

Joliba’s director of information, Mohamed Attaher Halidou, was summoned to HAC in October over an editorial in which he expressed concern about attacks on freedom of expression and democracy in Mali by the ruling military government.

HAC accused Joliba of launching “defamatory remarks and unfounded accusations” concerning freedom of expression in Mali and the “transitional authorities.”

The HAC’s November statement said the station would be taken off the air for two months because of what it called “serious and repeated breaches and violations of the substantive provisions of the code of ethics for journalism in Mali.”

Halidou has spoken openly about freedom of expression and freedom of the press in Mali, telling VOA News in March that self-censorship was rampant in the Malian press space as journalists feared reprisals from the military government.

Malian authorities this year have refused to grant accreditation to foreign journalists and detained or targeted several prominent critics of the government.

Halidou also spoke out against HAC’s April decision to take France 24 and Radio France International off the air following reports on alleged human rights abuses by Mali’s army, a decision that was condemned by press freedom advocates.