critical of the government’s response to Covid-19. Jolayemi was later released on bail. He was charged under Section 24(1)(b) of the Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc) Act of 2015. The charge sheet noted that Jolayemi posted the audio message with “the purpose of causing annoyance, insult, hatred and ill will to the current Hon. Minister of Information and Culture.” An amended charge sheet was produced in June which expanded on the rationale for this charge (Sahara Reporters 2020). KENYA: ROBERT ALAI Blogger Robert Alai was arrested and charged in March 2020 for publishing false information on his social media account. His posts accused the Kenyan government of concealing information about the extent of Covid-19 in the country. The blogger was charged for violating Section 23 of the Computer Misuse and Cybercrimes Act, which prohibits individuals from knowingly publishing false information that is calculated to cause panic or that results in panic (Ogila 2020). SOUTH AFRICA: STEVEN BIRCH Steven Birch was arrested and charged in April 2020 for spreading false news about Covid-19. This individual posted a video on Facebook in which he claimed that Covid-19 test kits were contaminated. He warned people against getting tested and said that the medical swabs used by fieldworkers were already contaminated with the virus. This video was widely shared online. The individual was arrested and charged under Regulation 11(5) of the Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002. Holding up what looked like an earbud, he called on people to not allow community testing teams or the police into their homes for testing. He claimed that this was being used to spread the virus globally. He also called Covid-19 a “total lie,” claimed that 5G cell phone masts would kill people worldwide, and said that people would be microchipped for movement monitoring (Evans 2020). BENIN: IGNACE SOSSOU On the morning of December 19, 2019, Sossou, a journalist with Benin Web TV and a member of several groups, such as the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the 3i Network (Initiative, Impact, Investigation), was arrested at his home by agents of the Central Office for the Repression of Cybercrime, and placed in custody. On December 24, he was sentenced to eighteen months in prison and fined 200,000 CFA francs for three tweets and an undisclosed number I N FO R M ATI O N D I SO R D ER IN THE GLOBA L SOUTH of posts on Facebook which were considered by the Beninese justice system as “harassment through electronic communications.” On December 18, the journalist posted, on Facebook and Twitter, comments attributed to the public prosecutor, Mario Metonou (the author of the complaint). The comments were ostensibly taken from a speech delivered by Metonou at a conference organized in Cotonou by CFI to discuss “fake news.” These three comments, now deleted, criticized the attitude of the Beninese government towards freedom of expression. According to a document obtained by Le Monde Afrique, the prosecutor’s comments, as reported by Sossou online, were as follows: “Benin’s legislation as it stands does not offer judicial security to those subject to trial”, “The cutting off of the internet on the day of the 28 April elections is an admission of weakness on the part of the government,” and “The Digital Code is like a gun to the head of every journalist”8 (Lepidi 2020). NIGER: SAMIRA SABOU Samira Sabou is a human rights defender, journalist and blogger. She is the president of the Association of Bloggers for Active Citizenship (ABCA), which organizes awareness-raising campaigns, along with other organizations, to promote the role of women in the public arena and ensure freedom of expression for women in the media. She is also the administrator of the information website Magazine d’Information sur le Développement Économique et Social (MIDES). On June 10, 2020, Sabou was On June 10, 2020, Samira Sabou arrested and charged with defawas arrested and charged with mation following a complaint by defamation following a complaint the son of the President of the Republic of Niger, Sani Mahamaby the son of the President dou Issoufou. According to the of the Republic of Niger, Sani human rights defender, her arMahamadou Issoufou. rest was linked to a social media post on May 26, 2020, in which she referred to an audit of the Ministry of Defense concerning overcharging and misappropriation of funds in the purchase of military equipment for the army. One of the comments below her publication linked the president’s son to the case, although Sabou did not mention him in her publication. A complaint for defamation was filed against the journalist by Issoufou, and she was subsequently arrested and detained in Niamey civil prison. Although Sabou is a journalist, she was not charged under the provisions of the press freedom law, which provides for a fine. Instead, she was charged with defamation under Article 29 of Sub -Saharan Africa – 1 6 4