Pressure mounts on Guinea Junta to free opposition leader

Dozens of civil society members and political parties in Guinea on Monday demanded the immediate release of an opposition leader detained for allegedly “insulting” the head of the military government.

The arrest of Aliou Bah, leader of the Liberal Democratic Movement (MoDel), marks the latest crackdown on freedoms by the junta led by General Mamady Doumbouya, who ousted civilian president Alpha Condé in a 2021 coup.

After being remanded in custody in Conakry on Monday, Bah vowed to continue his campaign.

“We’re going to fight; the truth is on our side,” Bah declared as he left the court in the central district of Kaloum, raising his fist before being taken to prison.

Bah was arrested on Thursday while travelling to neighbouring Sierra Leone with two colleagues.

In a statement sent to AFP, around 150 academics and journalists condemned Bah’s “arbitrary” arrest, describing it as “part of the policy of systematic elimination of people opposed to the arbitrariness and excesses of the junta’s ruling National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD).”

“We want to say loud and clear that we reject terror,” the statement declared.

“We reiterate with force and conviction our indignation at the continuing brutality of power.”

A Foundation of Innovation for Democracy, in a statement signed by Cameroonian historian Achille Mbembe, also criticised the “spectacular return” of “serious human rights violations… the will to silence and exile all dissident voices” in the region.

The organisation added that these actions have been accompanied by a rise in kidnappings and forced disappearances.

Since the junta assumed power, numerous opposition figures have been detained, prosecuted, or forced into exile.

Two prominent anti-junta activists have been missing since their detention by security forces in July, while two former high-ranking officers and a doctor have died under unclear circumstances following their arrests.

Additionally, a journalist from the Lerevelateur224 news platform was arrested earlier this month by uniformed men in Conakry’s suburbs, and his whereabouts remain unknown, according to his lawyers and a press union.

Despite international pressure, the junta had initially pledged to transfer power to a civilian government by the end of 2024 but has since indicated it will not follow through.