Mozambique moves arrested journalist to civilian jail

Arrested Mozambican journalist Amade Abubacar was moved from a military facility to a civil prison on Thursday, where he will await trial, a regional media freedom organisation told AFP.

Abubacar was arrested on 5 January while interviewing displaced people who were fleeing attacks by jihadists in Macomia, a small town in one of the areas worst hit by the Islamist insurgency in northern Mozambique.

Lázaro Mabunda of the Media Institute for Southern Africa (MISA), said there was still no formal charge against Abubacar, a respected radio journalist who works for the state-owned Radio e Televisao Comunitária Nacedje de Macomia in northern Cabo Delgado province.

Since his arrest, he has spent more than 10 days in a military facility without any charges being made against him or access to a lawyer.

His arrest was denounced by rights groups and advocates of press freedom such as Amnesty International, the Committee to Protect Journalists and American Bar Association.

According to Aly Abubacar, his brother, the family has not received any official information about him since his arrest.

"Officially we still know nothing about Amade. I am also reading on the social networks he has been transferred and the charges (against) him," he told AFP.

Since 2017, Mozambique's gas-rich north has become a hot spot for jihadist attacks on civilians, leaving over 100 dead and forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Numerous journalists have also been arrested while covering militant attacks in the region.

In December, troops arrested the acclaimed investigative reporter Estacio Valoi, who was freed two days later without charge. And six months earlier, they arrested Pindai Dube, a Zimbabwean correspondent for South African private broadcaster eNCA.