APA – Bamako (Mali) – The Shiite leader Bouyaya Haïdara has been arrested following his comments on the governance of the country.
Chouala Bouyaya Haïdara, a well-known preacher and member of the High Islamic Council of Mali, was arrested at his home in Bamako on Tuesday 19 December by members of the Judicial Investigation Brigade (BIJ) and presented to the public prosecutor on Wednesday 20 December.
He will be held in the Maison Centrale d’Arrêt de Bamako (MCA) pending trial, the date of which has not yet been announced.
He is accused of “undermining the reputation of the State and making statements aimed at disturbing public order.”
Prior to his arrest, he posted a video on social media stating his intention to respond to the summons sent to him.
The Malian cleric insisted that he had nothing to accuse himself of and that his only aim was to draw the authorities’ attention to the deteriorating living conditions of his compatriots.
According to him, even in times of war, “electricity remains available.”
He also said that he would “rather die or go to jail than remain silent about the dangers facing society.”
Mr. Haidara argued that he had reacted in the same way under previous regimes without being bothered, and regretted that “under the transition, we cannot talk to our peers or young brothers in power without being put in jail.”
In addition to the electricity issue, the preacher, who is close to the Shiite movement, recently spoke out against the continued detention without trial of people such as the former minister Bouaré Fily Dabo Sissoko, the polemicist Mohamed Youssouf Bathily, known as Ras Bath, and the influential Rockia Doumbia.
He also called on “the current leaders to get their act together before it’s too late, instead of sending everyone who speaks out to prison.”
MD/ac/lb/as/APA