Guinean Activists Arrested Amid Crackdown on Dissent

Conakry, Guinea – The Guinean military junta has intensified its crackdown on pro-democracy activists with a series of arrests targeting members of the National Front for the Defense of the Constitution (FNDC) and Tournons La Page Guinée (TLP-Guinea).

Already on July 5, 2022, Oumar Sylla (alias Foniké Menguè) was arrested while hosting a press conference. Alongside him, two other activists, Billo Bah (TLP-Guinea) and popular rapper-activist Djanii Alpha (FNDC), were forcibly taken to the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police (DCPJ). Following intense citizen mobilizations demanding their release, all three were freed on July 8 by the Court of First Instance of Dixinn.

These arrests coincide with renewed violence in Conakry after authorities banned a series of FNDC-organized rallies from June 23. The protests were aimed at denouncing the junta’s unilateral handling of Guinea’s political transition. The FNDC and its allies have accused the ruling military regime of suppressing civic freedoms and stalling the promised return to civilian rule.

With the latest arrests of Sylla and Ibrahima Diallo on July 30, concerns continue to mount over the junta’s growing intolerance toward opposition voices and its use of security forces to silence dissent.