The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)On Thursday, he joined 26 other civil society organizations in calling for the release of four journalists and others detained in Cameroon.
The group called on the President of Cameroon, Paul Biya, to release all those arbitrarily detained for acts of free expression.
In an open letter to President Biya, the group pointed out that the current African Cup of Nations, which is being held in Cameroon, hides the reality that more than 100 people have been detained, most for more than a year and some for more than five years, simply for “peaceful exercise of their human rights.”
Thomas Junior, Mancho Bibixy, Tsi Conrad, and Kingsley Njoka are journalists detained on anti-state charges in Yaoundé’s overcrowded Kondengui Central Prison, as documented in CPJ’s annual census of imprisoned journalists around the world.
“Indeed, while the celebrations continue outside, these people are suffering inside overcrowded cells, counting the months or years that they have already spent in prison, and the months or years that still await them,” the letter said.
“They have done nothing but peacefully exercise their human rights. But Cameroon’s draconian anti-terrorism law (2014) can be interpreted as criminalizing even peaceful protest. Detaining people simply for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, as well as detaining people after trials without independent due process, is arbitrary and illegal.
“We too are aggrieved and shocked, not only at these people and the injustice of their suffering, but also at the greater injustice of their arbitrary detention. If they are not free, no Cameroonian is free. If they languish in prison for speaking out today, anyone could be in prison for speaking out tomorrow.”
The organizations also urged the president to reform laws used to criminalize protest and public assembly and guarantee the release of all those arbitrarily detained for acts of free expression and free assembly.