afrol News, 12 February - The detained Nigerien journalist has returned to prison after a court on Tuesday ruled against his release.

Moussa Kaka - the correspondent of Radio French International and director of a private radio station - has been detained since September for suspicious connection with the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) rebel group.

Nigerien authorities believed that Kaka might have received compensation from the rebels.

Apart from rejecting his provisional release, the appeals court also overruled against an earlier court decision that phone-tap evidence submitted by the government against Kaka was illegal.

The ruling has mandated the prosecution to strengthen investigation into the case.

His attorneys are not only studying the court's decision, but also the possibility of filing a "no case to answer" submission.

Reporters sans frontières described the court's decision as "incomprehensible and disappointing."

The press freedom organisation wondered why the authorities remain adamant in detaining an innocent person who has been "unfairly kept in prison for 145 days."

In November 2007, the court ruled that the use of phone-tap as evidence fell outside the law. After tapping into a conversation between Kaka and Alagi Alambo, the leader of MNJ, Nigerien authorities interpreted that the two men had shown "connivance."

But Kaka refuted such interpretation, insisting that it was "a professional exchange between a journalist and his source."

By staff writer

© afrol News

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