In brief
Malian lawmaker Mamadou Hawa Gassama has been sentenced to three years in prison in Ivory Coast for insulting President Alassane Ouattara. Gassama's arrest last July coincided with strained diplomatic ties between Mali and Ivory Coast, especially after Mali experienced a military coup in 2020. Criticisms include allegations of trying to undermine Ivorian institutions, escalating tensions already present due to previous diplomatic incidents between the two nations.
A Malian lawmaker has been jailed in neighbouring Ivory Coast for three years for insulting the 84-year-old Ivorian leader, who recently won a fourth term in office.
Mamadou Hawa Gassama, who serves in the transitional parliament set up by Mali's junta, was arrested last July while on a trip to Ivory Coast.
Prosecutors said he described President Alassane Ouattara as a tyrant, an enemy of Mali and strongly criticised his leadership in interviews and on social media.
Since Mali's military took power in 2020, relations with Ivory Coast have been strained. Ouattara, an ally of France - the former colonial power in both nations - has been critical of the takeover and other coups in West Africa.
Since the Malian politician's arrest in Abidjan last July, the authorities in Bamako have not commented on the case.
We believe that this decision is... excessive... it is very severe, Gassama's lawyer Mamadou Ismaila Konate has claimed.
Prosecutors argued that Gassama's remarks went beyond political critique, accusing him of deliberately seeking to undermine Ivorian institutions and sow discord between the two neighbours.
It is a reminder of the diplomatic row that erupted two years after the coup, when 49 Ivorian soldiers were sentenced in Mali to 20 years in prison for undermining state security.
At that time, Ivory Coast denied the allegations, stating that the soldiers were sent to Mali as part of a UN mission against militant Islamists. They were later freed after mediation efforts led by Togo.
Since then, Mali's military leaders have overseen the exit of the UN peacekeeping mission and French forces, which had deployed to Mali in response to an escalating jihadist insurgency.
Instead, it has sought closer ties with Russia and has brought in Russian mercenaries to tackle the insecurity affecting several countries in the vast Sahel region.
