Senegalese news commentator arrested, accused of spreading false news

Dakar, February 12, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Senegalese authorities to release Modou Fall, news commentator at the privately owned channel Sen TV, after he was arrested Wednesday in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, on false news accusations for remarks he made about a crackdown on student protests.

“Senegalese authorities continue to criminalize news commentary in violation of President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye’s promises to remove prison sentences for press offenses,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “Modou Fall should be released, with all legal proceedings against him dropped.”

On Thursday, a gendarmerie research brigade transferred Fall to the prosecutor of a Dakar court, a day after questioning him for spreading false news, according to news reports and Fatima Diop, presenter of the Sen TV program “Grandes Gueules,” where Fall appears regularly, who spoke with CPJ. Fall has been remanded to prison and will be tried on charges of spreading false news on February 16, said Diop.

Fall was summoned after he alleged in a February 10 program that the government officials recruited students to accuse the opposition of orchestrating demonstrations at Dakar’s main university.

A student died on Monday after police stormed the campus following days of protests against a plan to reform the scholarship system and to claim that arrears be paid.

“They decided to blame the death of the young man on the opposition. They recruited students who are their militants and made them make videos to say that [Bougane Guèye Dany, opposition leader and owner of Sen TV] gave them money,” said Fall, who also cited names of other opposition leaders during Tuesday’s program.

Several journalists and news commentators have been arrested since President Bassirou Diomaye Diakhar Faye came to power in 2024, after promising to replace prison sentences for press offenses with fines.

Separately, on February 11, Falil Gadio, a reporter for the privately owned online channel Senegal 7, was tried and acquitted of charges of “provoking the commission of a crime and incitement to violence” by a Dakar court, the journalist told CPJ.

Gadio was arrested on February 6 and was provisionally released three days later, pending his trial. Senegal 7 had broadcast his interview of a merchant calling on unemployed young people to commit aggression after an operation to evict an unauthorized market in the capital. “This message is not good,” Gadio replied to the merchant in the video.

CPJ’s calls to Ousseynou Ly, spokesperson of the Senegalese presidency, for comment on Fall’s arrest went unanswered.