Amnesty International has called on Cameroonian authorities to immediately release three supporters of the youth organization Pouvoir au Peuple Camerounais (PPC) and their relatives. The detained individuals, Moustapha Tizi, Mohamadou Ballo, and Ibrahim Oumarou, were arrested on September 9 in Figuil, Cameroon for wearing shirts displaying the organization’s name according to Amnesty International. Furthermore, Hapsatou Issa, the sister of a PPC spokesperson, was also arrested on the same date, along with her son, who was detained while delivering food to his mother.
The detainees were transferred to various detention centers in Garoua, Cameroon on September 13. Fabien Offner, a researcher at Amnesty International’s West and Central Africa office, denounced the arrests stating that individuals criticizing authorities, including human rights defenders, journalists, and activists, risk being arbitrarily arrested, detained, and tried by military courts, in violation of Cameroon’s international human rights obligations. This trend is anticipated to worsen as the presidential election approaches.
In a related development, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, during his visit to Cameroon in August, called on political parties to publicly commit to the human rights cause, ensuring the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, especially in the context of the upcoming elections in 2025 and 2026. Further details on his statement can be read here.
Amnesty’s recent statements also highlighted an earlier case involving activist Junior Ngombe, who was allegedly arbitrarily detained from July 24 to 31 after criticizing another activist’s arrest on TikTok.
It is important to note that Transparency International ranks Cameroon’s public sector as one of the most corrupt globally, with a corruption perceptions index score of 27 out of 100. This pervasive corruption further complicates the nation’s human rights landscape.