A Guinean court on Tuesday handed an opposition figure two years in prison for “insulting and defaming” the head of the ruling junta, prompting condemnation from the opposition and Amnesty International.
The sentencing of Aliou Bah, who heads the Liberal Democratic Movement (MoDel), is the latest in a crackdown on freedoms under the junta of General Mamady Doumbouya, who overthrew the civilian president Alpha Conde in a 2021 coup.
Since then, a number of opposition figures have been arrested, brought before the courts or forced into exile.
Bah was accused of having “called on (Guinean) religious leaders to break their silence” on the situation in the country during meetings, and of describing the junta’s ruling National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD) as “incompetent”, according to his defence.
He was arrested in late December as he travelled to neighbouring Sierra Leone and was later detained for “insulting and defaming” Doumbouya.
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