On August 8, 2026, armed men were wearing military uniforms and masks abducted activist and school teacher Bella Bah in a private school where he serves as principal.
Neither he nor his family knew the reasons for his arrest or where he was taken at the time of the abduction.
For several days, Bah’s whereabouts and the reasons for his arrest remained unknown to his family. He was reportedly held for three days at the headquarters of the Judicial Investigations Unit of the National Police before being brought before the Dixinn Court of First Instance on August 13, 2026.
He is being prosecuted for “insult and defamation via electronic means”. These charges were brought against the him for making remarks deemed insulting towards the Chief Imam of the Fayçal Mosque, Elhadj Mamadou Saliou Camara. The activist made a post on his Facebook page, in which he called the imam deceitful and accused him of being the morally responsible party for the injustice suffered by Guineans. He subsequently deleted the post.
In another Facebook post published shortly after the first one was deleted and a few hours before his arrest, Bah explained that his intention was not to undermine the reputation of the religious leader, but to question the “silence of the chief imam about some injustices.” This did not prevent the prosecutor from ordering his arrest.
On August 11, 2026, Elhadj Mamadou Saliou Camara posted a video on Facebook in which he indicted he had forgiven the activist for his remarks and asked the authorities to release him. “I forgive him for the statements he made, and I also ask the government to release him. I appeal to the authorities to forgive my son, Bella Bah,” he said (translated from Dioula). But Bah has still not been released.
This case once again highlights legitimate concerns about respect for fundamental freedoms and due process in Guinea and in other countries in West Africa. His arrest by armed and hooded men, followed by several days of detention without his family being informed of his place of detention or the specific reasons for his arrest, raises serious concerns regarding respect for his fundamental rights and due process.
These practices facilitate arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances, which the subregion and Guinea in particular, has witnessed in recent times. The case of Habib Marouane, a journalist and administrator of the website Le Révélateur 224, serves as a clear example. He was abducted in Conakry on December 3, 2024, by men in gendarme uniforms and remains missing to this day.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) condemns Bella Bah’s detention and the circumstances surrounding his arrest, and calls on the Guinean authorities to release him immediately. In a context where civic space and freedom of expression remain subject to severe restrictions in Guinea, the authorities must ensure that prosecutions for insult or defamation are not used to silence critical voices or deter citizens from speaking out on matters of public interest.
