Keypoints:
- Aliou Bah jailed for criticising junta
- Rights groups denounce verdict
- Repression deepens under military rule
A GUINEAN appeals court has upheld a two-year prison sentence for prominent opposition leader Aliou Bah, escalating fears over the shrinking space for dissent under the country’s military regime.
Bah, who leads the Liberal Democratic Movement (Model), was convicted of ‘offending and insulting’ junta leader General Mamadi Doumbouya. His defence confirmed that the sentence, first handed down in January, was reaffirmed during a closed court session in Conakry on Wednesday.
Sentence upheld amid crackdown
Bah has been detained since December 2024. The charges stem from public remarks in which he reportedly criticised the ruling junta and urged religious leaders to speak out against Guinea’s political repression. He was also accused of calling the CNRD—the military governing body—‘incompetent’ during opposition rallies.
Although prosecutors pushed for a five-year sentence, the court maintained the original two-year term following an appeal hearing that began in March. Bah pleaded not guilty.
AFP reporters were denied entry to the courtroom by police, raising fresh concerns about transparency in politically sensitive trials.
Rights defenders condemn verdict
Human rights groups and legal experts have slammed the ruling as politically motivated. Hady Galissa, a lawyer representing Bah, denounced the court’s decision as ‘unjust’.
Alseny Sall, head of the Guinean Organisation for the Defence of Human Rights (OGDH), described the verdict as ‘a triumph of arbitrariness over freedom’. Amnesty International’s West Africa researcher, Fabien Offner, said the ruling reflected the junta’s readiness to silence critics at all costs.
‘The military government is clearly prepared to crush dissent—especially from voices demanding accountability for its broken promises,’ Offner told AFP.
Exile and repression grow
The verdict comes amid a deteriorating political climate in Guinea, marked by disappearances of regime opponents and increasingly harsh restrictions on civil liberties.
Ibrahima Diallo, another opposition leader now in exile in Europe, said Bah’s sentencing validates the fears of political actors who fled Guinea to escape judicial persecution. ‘This is why many of us left—this junta has weaponised the courts,’ he said.
Junta under global scrutiny
General Doumbouya seized power in a 2021 military coup, toppling President Alpha Condé after more than a decade of civilian rule. While the junta initially pledged to return Guinea to democratic governance, its crackdown on opposition leaders and activists has drawn mounting criticism from regional and international observers.
With Bah now serving a two-year sentence, civil society groups warn the ruling sets a dangerous precedent and signals a continued drift away from the rule of law in the West African nation.
