LAGOS (AFP) — Niger authorities must free Moussa Kaka, a journalist behind bars since September for alleged links with a Tuareg rebel movement, an investigating judge ruled Monday.
But the prosecution swiftly appealed the decision and Kaka was taken back to his cell in Niamey's prison pending consideration of the appeal.
Kaka's lawyers had asked for his provisional release on June 11, and under the terms set down by the judge Monday the journalist had to remain at the disposal of investigators and let authorities know his whereabouts.
In February the Niamey appeals court already quashed an order by another investigating judge to free Kaka after the prosecution objected.
Kaka, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale and Reporters Without Borders, was detained on the strength of wiretaps the prosecutor presented as evidence for the charge of complicity to undermine the authority of the state.
But the judge in February -- who was subsequently removed from the case -- found that the wiretaps could not be accepted as evidence in court.
A higher court then ruled in May that Kaka should not be released.
President Mamadou Tandja's government refuses any dealings with the rebels of the Movement of Niger People for Justice (MNJ), which emerged in February last year in the Agadez region of the landlocked, arid west African country and which has since threatened uranium mining there.
The government has cracked down hard on all journalists believed to have had any dealings with the MNJ and Kaka faces life imprisonment if convicted of the charges against him.
The government argues that Kaka was not arrested for his professional activities.
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