Mali has arrested a close friend to an influential imam who is one of the few remaining outspoken critics of the West African country’s ruling junta, an opposition coalition said Saturday.

The arrest of Youssouf Daba Diawara, the general coordinator for imam Mahmoud Dicko’s movement, is the latest in a harsh crackdown on dissent by the Sahel country’s military rulers.

He was stopped and apprehended by men in a four-by-four who claimed to be policemen on Friday, one of his relatives confirmed to AFP.

Diawara is a close ally of imam Dicko, a key player in the mass opposition protests that led the toppling of president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita in August 2020.

The religious leader is one of the few people who openly dares to openly express his disagreement with and mobilise mass support against the increasingly draconian junta.

He was received in Algeria at the end of December by President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, provoking a diplomatic stand-off between the two countries.

The imam has not returned to Mali since.

His Coordination of Movements (CMAS), which Diawara was in charge of organising for, was officially dissolved by Mali’s colonels in power in April.

The Action Synergy for Mali, a coalition made up of 30 opposition parties and movement including Dicko’s CMAS, issued a statement on Saturday denouncing Diawara’s “arbitrary arrest”.

“These anti-democratic and anti-constitutional acts are a flagrant violation of human rights, freedom of expression and freedom of movement,” the umbrella group said.

Mali’s military leaders have taken an ever-tougher line on political opposition.

In June, authorities jailed 10 people, including leading opposition politicians, for demanding a return to civilian rule.

They were accused of plotting against the government and holding illegal gatherings, while the opposition denounced the arrests as “yet another violation of fundamental freedoms”.

Since 2012, Mali has been beset with multiple crises, including an Islamist insurgency, ethnic violence, endemic corruption and economic malaise.

Imam Dicko was also one of the few figures to call for dialogue with the jihadists — a stance firmly opposed by former colonial ruler France.

After president Keita’s ouster, the West African country has been ruled by military leaders since a double coup in 2020 and 2021.

The junta decreed in June 2022 that the military would cede power to civilians at the end of last March, after a presidential election scheduled for February, only to renege on the promise.