Prosecutors of the Alliance of Sahel States countries, formed between Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso, opened investigations against a journalist for French TV channel France 24 Wassim Nasr, accusing him of making "comments that are tantamount to acts of publicity and blatant support for terrorists," French media reported.
The accusations stem from his reporting on recent jihadist attacks in the region.
The allegations came amid a wave of anti-French sentiment and the suspension of some French media outlets in those countries.
Earlier, French TV5 Monde was banned in Burkina Faso for six months and fined 76,000 euros as the channel was accused of broadcasting "tendentious remarks bordering on disinformation."
"If you say things that are not true, we'll suspend your media or withdraw your publishing license, and that's it," the publishing director of the Burkinabe newspaper Éclair Info Daouda Sawadogo told Sputnik Africa, commenting on the matter.