Amnesty International on Thursday condemned the life sentence handed down by a military court in Cameroon against activist Abdu Karim Ali, calling it an “affront to justice” and demanding his immediate and unconditional release.

According to Amnesty International, Ali was arrested without a warrant and arbitrarily detained after he produced a video exposing the torture carried out by the leader of a pro-government militia in Cameroon’s conflicted Southwest Region. On April 16, a military court in Yaoundé, the capital, sentenced him to life imprisonment for “hostility against the homeland” and “secession.”

The organization emphasized that Ali had to wait three years before receiving this life sentence, which it considered an “extreme punishment” for merely exercising his right to free speech. Amnesty International also criticized the military trial given the activist, stating that it violated both Cameroonian laws and international human rights law. Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) prohibits the trial of civilians before military courts. Article 19 of the covenant protects the rights to freedom of opinion and expression, including the right to seek, receive and impart information by any means.

Ali had advocated for a Swiss-led mediation process to resolve the armed conflict in Cameroon, and directed the Peace Research Centre in Bamenda, capital of Northwest Region. He was arrested in August 2022 and subsequently detained for 84 days at a military police station, where he was interrogated about the video documenting the torture of civilians by a military chief.

Cameroon has been experiencing an armed conflict since 2016 between government security forces and separatist armed groups in what is known as the Anglophone crisis. This conflict began with protests in the English-speaking regions of Cameroon against the appointment of French-speaking judges and teachers in those areas. The demonstrations escalated into an armed conflict, as Cameroon’s military confronted separatists in the Anglophone regions who sought the independence of the Southwest and Northwest as the “Federal Republic of Ambazonia.” This conflict has been marked by numerous human rights violations committed by both sides, including killings, sexual violence and abductions, along with a widespread suppression of freedom of speech.

Repression has now spread to the Francophone regions of the country as well. In 2024, supporters of a youth organization in Garoua, capital of North Region, were arrested for their activism.