Burkina Faso Journalist Held in Secret Jail Amid Crackdown

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said a prominent Burkinabe investigative journalist and dozens of unknown detainees have been held in a covert detention house in Ouagadougou, contradicting the military junta’s claim that the journalist was merely conscripted into the army.

The journalist, Atiana Serge Oulon, editor of the newspaper L’Événement, was taken from his home in June 2024 by several armed men in civilian clothing. The junta later announced that Oulon had been drafted for military service. Former detainees, however, told RSF that Oulon and up to 40 other people were confined in a heavily guarded house in the capital as of late 2025. According to their testimony, the detainees slept on bare floors, were forced to drink toilet water and were beaten with ropes and tree branches. Oulon’s current whereabouts remain unknown. RSF has forwarded its findings to the Burkinabe authorities, which have not responded.

RSF noted that Oulon has been targeted since 2022, when he published an investigation accusing an army captain of embezzlement. In a statement, RSF journalists Haïfa Mzalouat and Camille Montagu said the “so‑called conscription” was a “smokescreen to cover up his detention” and that Oulon’s location is “neither on the front line nor in a secret prison.”

The report also linked the detentions to the junta’s inner circle. A security officer close to coup leader Capt. Ibrahim Traoré allegedly briefed detainees before releasing them and warned them against speaking out. Since seizing power in 2022, the Burkina Faso military government has intensified repression of political dissent and media freedom, shuttering independent outlets and forcibly conscripting critics to fight Islamist militants.

In recent weeks the regime has taken further restrictive measures. On Tuesday it banned the French‑language channel TV5 Monde, accusing it of “disinformation” about jihadist activity. The same day the government ordered the dissolution of approximately 200 civil‑society organisations. Human Rights Watch, in an April report, described the junta’s actions as creating “an atmosphere of terror” and severely curtailing the flow of information.

The allegations raise serious concerns about the treatment of journalists and civil‑society actors under Burkina Faso’s military rule. International observers and press‑freedom organisations are calling for transparent investigations and the immediate release of Oulon and other detainees. The government’s lack of response to RSF’s report leaves the situation unresolved and underscores the ongoing challenges to media freedom in the country.