NIAMEY, Niger, Jan 19, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - A major journalist in Niger was in custody Saturday, an association said, a day after the private TV channel he runs was suspended following a report critical of the military-led regime.

Seyni Amadou, editor-in-chief of Canal 4 TV, has been arrested, said CAP-Medias-Niger, which represents media workers in the country.

On Friday, Niger's communications ministry announced the channel had been taken off the air for a month.

State television channel Tele Sahel said Canal 3 TV had been punished "for violating the rules of ethics and deontology".

Canal 3 told AFP in a statement that the suspension was "linked to a broadcast on the ranking of ministers" in the government of Prime Minister Ali Mahaman Lamine Zeine, a civilian appointed by the military regime.

In the report's ranking, Zeine was placed first and several of his ministers were called the "soft underbelly" of the government.

CAP said in a statement Friday it regretted Amadou's arrest and detention and called for the rights of journalists to be respected.

"Never in the history of media regulation in Niger has the decision to suspend a media been taken by the executive, including in so-called exceptional periods," it added.

CAP called on Communications Minister Sidi Raliou Mohamed to reconsider his decision.

Niger lies 80th out of 180 countries on the 2024 Press Freedom Index published by Paris-based media rights campaigners Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Already in November, another journalist at Canal 3, Serge Mathurin Adou, was detained and later convicted on allegations he attempted to destabilise fellow junta-led Sahel nation Burkina Faso.

General Abdourahamane Tiani, the chief of Niger's powerful presidential guard, in 2023 ousted president Mohamed Bazoum, a key ally of the West in fighting jihadists in sub-Saharan Africa.

Since the coup, Niger's military rulers have turned their back on former colonial power France and forged ties with fellow juntas in Burkina Faso and Mali, as well as with Russia.

It has also blocked international channels including Radio France Internationale (RFI), France 24 and the BBC.