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A former prime minister of Mali, which is now under military rule, has been charged with undermining the credibility of the state over comments on social media.<\/p>\n
After a prison visit to see detained opposition figures in July, Moussa Mara declared on X his “unwavering solidarity with prisoners of conscience”.<\/p>\n
Mara, who served as prime minister for nine months a decade ago, has been a recent outspoken critic of the military government.<\/p>\n
The junta, in power since coups in 2020 and 2021, dissolved all political parties in May following rare anti-government protests<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n On Thursday, Mara was detained and questioned for a second time by the national cybercrime unit about his 4 July X post.<\/p>\n In the post, the ex-prime minister said his regular visits to see those detained were to make sure that “the flame of hope never fades in them”.<\/p>\n “As long as the night lasts, the sun will inevitably rise! And we will fight by all means to make that happen, and as soon as possible!” he added.<\/p>\n The prosecutor at the cybercrime unit said that talking about “prisoners of conscience” and saying he wanted to fight for them constituted an offence, Radio France Internationale reports.<\/p>\n On Friday, along with the accusation of undermining the credibility of the state, he was also charged with opposing legitimate authority and inciting public disorder.<\/p>\n He is due to stand trial on 29 September.<\/p>\n