Ibrahim Ngom, a freelance journalist who was sentenced on April 22, 2015, for blackmailing a Senegalese government official, has been sentenced again.
The MFWA’s correspondent in Senegal reported that Ngom was sentenced on May 11 to serve two months in prison for “attempted extortion, threats and assaults” of Moustapha Diakhate, a Member of Parliament and Benno Bokk Yakaar, the parliamentary group chairman.
Ngom has been in custody since April 3, following his arrest and subsequent sentence. Even though he was given a suspended sentence, he was held in custody because there were other cases of blackmail pending against him.
Other complaints were initiated against him while he was in prison, including the ones brought by Diakhate, Yakaar, deputy Minister of Youth, Employment and Citizenship Awareness, Mbaye Niang and another Minister, Mariama Sarr.
As in the previous case, Diakhate withdrew the complaint, but the public suit went on since there were other complaints against the journalist.
The MFWA has repeatedly expressed concern about growing unprofessionalism in West Africa. Once again, we call on journalists to exercise high levels of professionalism and ethics in order to foster public trust in the media as a responsible source of information.