New York, April 24, 2017–A military court in Cameroon today sentenced Ahmed Abba, a correspondent for Radio France Internationale’s (RFI) Hausa service, to 10 years in prison and ordered him to make a payment of 55 million Central African francs (US$91,133) Abba’s lawyer Clément Nakong, told CPJ. Abba, who has been held in pretrial detention for 635 days, was convicted of “non-denunciation of terrorism” and “laundering of the proceeds of terrorist acts,” last week. Nakong said that he will appeal Abba’s sentence within the 10 days set by the court.
“Ahmed Abba should never have been detained, prosecuted, and convicted for his journalism–let alone ordered to spend a decade behind bars,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal, in Johannesburg, South Africa. “This outrageous sentence signals the lengths that Cameroon authorities are willing to go to intimidate the media and thwart freedom of the press.”
- Support Ahmed Abba with CPJ’s Free the Press campaign