DAKAR, Dec 15, 2022 (BSS/AFP) - Senegal has ordered the release of journalist and government critic Pape Ale Niang, whose detention for more than a month incensed the media community and human rights defenders, one of his lawyers said Wednesday.

Niang, the head of the Dakar Matin online news site, was arrested on November 6 and charged with "divulging information likely to harm national defence".

He went on a hunger strike on December 2 to protest his imprisonment, and his defence team said he was taken to a clinic earlier this week after his health deteriorated.

A judge in Dakar on Wednesday ordered his "provisional release on bail, his passport withdrawn, a travel ban and a ban on commenting on the case," lawyer Cire Cledor Ly said in a message to AFP.

According to local media, Niang was released Tuesday. He ended his hunger strike on Wednesday, "but he is weakened", said Ly.

Niang, well-known in Senegal for his regular columns on current affairs, was arrested after he wrote about rape charges being faced by the country's main opposition leader, Ousmane Sonko

He is accused of "receiving administrative and military documents" and "spreading false news likely to bring public institutions into disrepute", having broadcast confidential messages about security arrangements for Sonko's November 3 interrogation over the rape allegations.

The messages were widely shared by others on social media.

Investigators and Niang's lawyers did not specify what documents were being used against him.

His detention sparked a wave of criticism from the press, civil society groups and Senegal's opposition -- many of whom called for his release.

Reporters Without Borders praised the Dakar court's decision Wednesday.

"We are happy with this court decision, which will allow Pape Ale Niang to reunite with his family, his friends, and who will above all be able to resume his work as a journalist," said RSF secretary-general Christophe Deloire, who visited the Senegalese journalist in prison earlier this month.

"We now call on the Senegalese authorities to drop all charges against him."

Senegal ranks 73rd out of 180 countries in RSF's latest press freedom index.

The country dropped 24 places compared with 2021.