Two journalists in Niger were sentenced on Friday over accusations of plotting against state authority, according to their employer, speaking to AFP.

They were part of a group of three reporters from Sahara FM who were arrested in early May in the central city of Agadez.

Since the military coup in 2023, Niger’s ruling junta has frequently detained journalists a trend that has drawn widespread condemnation from press freedom advocates globally.

The journalists were detained after reporting that security agreements between Niger and Russia a major ally of the ruling junta had been terminated.

According to Sahara FM's parent company, Air Info, a military court judge ordered the two reporters to be held at Kollo Prison, located roughly 50 kilometers south of the capital, Niamey.

Air Info confirmed that while two of the journalists remain in custody, the third has been provisionally released.

All three were tried on charges of “undermining national defense” and “plotting against state authority.”

Niger currently ranks 83rd out of 180 countries in the 2025 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, reflecting growing concern over media repression under the junta-led government.