Amnesty International has called for the immediate release of 36 members of Cameroon’s opposition Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon (MRC), who have spent five years in detention for taking part in peaceful protests against President Paul Biya.
In a statement on September 22, the rights group condemned what it described as the arbitrary imprisonment of the activists, who were sentenced in 2019 to between one and seven years on charges of “rebellion” and “attempted insurrection.”
The appeal comes amid mounting political repression ahead of Cameroon’s presidential election. In August, 54 MRC supporters were arrested in Yaoundé after the electoral commission rejected the candidacy of opposition leader Maurice Kamto.
Although later freed on bail, their detention underscored shrinking civic space in the country.
The United Nations Human Rights High Commissioner has also expressed concern about restrictions that could undermine voters’ ability to freely choose their leaders.
President Biya, 92, who has ruled Cameroon for nearly 43 years, is seeking an eighth consecutive seven-year term in the October 12 election. He faces 11 challengers, including opposition candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary.
Biya, Africa’s second-longest-serving leader after Equatorial Guinea’s Teodoro Obiang Nguema, has presided over decades marked by conflict, entrenched corruption, and underdevelopment despite the nation’s rich reserves of oil and minerals. Nearly 43% of Cameroonians still live in poverty, according to UN data.
