The Media Foundation for West Africa welcomes the reappearance of Guinean activist Abdul Sacko, but condemns in the strongest terms the acts of torture to which he was allegedly subjected.
On February 19, 2025, Abdoul Sacko, coordinator of the Forum des Forces Sociales de Guinée (FFSG), was abducted from his home by armed men. According to his next of kin, the gunmen burst into his home at around 4am, violently assaulted him in front of his family, seized his telephone and then took him away in a vehicle without number plates.
His abduction provoked a wave of indignation in Guinea and on the international stage, leading to a reaction from the US embassy which, on February 19, 2025, urged the Guinean government to promptly investigate the case and denounce the escalation of arbitrary arrests of journalists.
On February 20, 2025, a day after his abduction, his lawyers announced that he was found 100 kilometres from the capital, Conakry, with severe injuries and signs of torture. He was immediately hospitalised.
Following this development, the Guinean Bar, true to its mission of defending fundamental rights and freedoms, expressed its deep concern and denounced the silence of the judicial authorities in the face of this serious violation of human rights and the growing sense of fear in the country.
The Bar considers this kidnapping to be a flagrant failure by the State to fulfil its obligation to protect its citizens, a responsibility enshrined in the Constitution. It also condemns the inaction of the judicial authorities, whose unresponsive attitude has only fuelled the justifiable indignation and apprehensions of citizens and human rights organisations.
The Guinean Bar proceeded to urge the government to take all necessary measures to elucidate not only this kidnapping while guaranteeing the safety of Mr. Abdoul Sacko, but also those of three other missing activists and one journalist. The four include Oumar Sylla (alias Foniké Manguè) and Mamadou Billo Bah, two leaders of the pressure group Front National pour la défense de la Constitution (FNDC). They were abducted in their home located at Dixine, Conakry, on the night of July 9, 2024 by masked men in uniform. The third activist, Saadou Nimaga, a Secretary to the Minister of Mines under the deposed President Alpha Conde, was bundled into a vehicle in broad day light by men in plain clothes on October 17, 2024. The fourth is Habib Marouane Camara, journalist and founder of the news website Lerevelateur224.com. Camara was stopped around 8 pm on December 3, 2024 while on his way to a meeting and whisked away by unknown persons.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) renews its firm condemnation of these acts of intimidation, abduction, illegal detention and torture, which violate international human rights norms and threaten the democratic transition process in Guinea. We join the Guinean Bar to demand thorough investigations to ensure that those responsible for these acts are identified and brought to justice.
