**Committee to Protect Journalists Calls on Benin President to Address Press Freedom Concerns**
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has issued a formal request to Beninese President Romuald Wadagni, urging his administration to implement measures to protect press freedom. The appeal was delivered in a letter marking the president’s first 100 days in office.
In its correspondence, the CPJ highlighted a decline in press freedom within Benin over recent years. The organization specifically cited the July 2025 arrest of Comlan Hugues Sossoukpè, the publishing director of the privately owned online news outlet *Olofofo Info*. According to the CPJ, Sossoukpè was arrested in Ivory Coast and forcibly extradited to Benin, despite holding refugee status. He remains in detention without trial, alongside his colleague, Ali Moumouni, who was arrested shortly after Sossoukpè.
The CPJ further called for reforms to Benin’s Digital Code, stating that the legislation has been frequently used to target journalists. The organization noted that the law was a subject of concern among several member states during Benin’s 2023 Universal Periodic Review before the United Nations Human Rights Council.
Article source: allafrica.com | Image credit: Committee to Protect Journalists
