Mali’s ex-prime minister is arrested for supporting jailed critics of the ruling military junta

BAMAKO, Mali (AP) — Mali’s former prime minister was taken into pretrial detention on Friday after expressing solidarity in a media post with jailed critics of the military junta ruling the West African country, his lawyer and a close associate said.

Moussa Mara’s arrest is the latest in a crackdown on dissent by Mali’s military rulers following the country’s first pro-democracy rally since soldiers seized power nearly four years ago.

Abdoulaye Yaro, a close associate of the former prime minister, told The Associated Press that Mara was arrested after a cybercrime prosecutor ordered his detention pending trial for expressing compassion for people jailed for political beliefs.

A member of the cybercrime unit said Mara has been accused of “damaging the state’s credibility” and that his trial would start on Sept. 29, 2025. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Mara’s lawyer Mountaga Tall said on X that the former prime minister faces charges including undermining state authority, inciting public disorder, and spreading false information. Mara’s legal team is contesting the charges and detention, Tall said.

On July 4, Mara posted on X that he had visited jailed critics of the military junta.

“As long as the night lasts, the sun will obviously appear!” he wrote and added, “We will fight by all means for this to happen as soon as possible!”

Mali, a landlocked nation in Africa’s semiarid Sahel region on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert, has been embroiled in political instability that swept across West and Central Africa over the last decade.

Since orchestrating two coups in 2020 and 2021, Gen. Assimi Goita has led Mali. In June, he was granted an additional five years in power, despite the junta’s earlier promises of a return to civilian rule by March 2024. The move followed the military regime’s dissolution of political parties in May.