Since taking power in a September 2022 coup, the west African country's junta has been accused of repressing critical voices, including by sending people to the front line to fight jihadist violence.
Authorities have in recent months released about 10 people who had been kidnapped or arrested and forcibly mobilised.
Earlier Monday, Ousseni Ilboudo, editorial director of L'Observateur Paalga, was arrested by individuals who presented themselves as intelligence agency members, while he was preparing to hold the daily editorial conference, the newspaper said on Facebook.
He was put into a van "to a destination unknown to us", it said.
Another journalist, Michel Nana, deputy chief editor of the Le Pays newspaper, was abducted earlier in the day by men in civilian clothing, one of his friends told AFP.
Two magistrates from the Ouagadougou court of appeal were kidnapped on Friday and Sunday, and another has been missing since Saturday, a legal source told AFP.
Dozens of military officers, including former gendarmerie chief of staff Evrard Somda, have also been arrested over the last year, accused of "conspiracy" or "attempting to destabilise republican institutions".
Junta leader Captain Ibrahim Traore seized power promising to put an end to the spiral of violence that has plagued Burkina Faso for more than a decade.
But jihadists, who have pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State group, have continued to commit violence across swathes of the desert nation.
Former jihadist fighters join Niger army
Niamey, Niger (AFP) Oct 14, 2025 -
Ex-jihadists who "repented" have successfully been integrated into the Nigerien army after several months of training, military authorities said Monday.
Niger's junta, which came to power two years ago in a coup, has struggled to contain jihadist violence.
The country faces deadly attacks from Boko Haram in the Lake Chad basin and from groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Islamic State in the western Tillaberi region.
In the north, where Niger's military is battling armed groups close to the ousted regime, dozens of fighters have surrendered to authorities.
On Monday, 369 jihadists and "repentant" armed movement fighters completed several months of training near the capital Niamey, according to state television RTN.
They include 307 men, 21 women and 41 children in training since the end of 2024, the interior ministry said in a statement seen by AFP.
"A good number of them have been integrated to serve under the national flag," while others have received support kits to carry out income-generating activities, RTN said.
Eighty-four people have received kits to set up businesses, according to the interior ministry.
"These men, who were once misguided but have now chosen to renounce violence and reconcile with the Republic, should no longer be regarded as enemies," said Tillaberi Governor Colonel Maina Boukar.
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