The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Cameroonian authorities to release George Lekeaka, who has been held incommunicado since Monday for publishing a photo of security officers on patrol during clashes with separatist fighters.
“George Atabong Lekeaka should not have been arrested for attempting to provide the public with security information, let alone secretly detained without access to a lawyer or his family, in violation of his rights,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “Cameroonian authorities should immediately disclose Lekeaka’s whereabouts, release him, and refrain from targeting journalists for covering the Anglophone crisis.”
George Atabong Lekeaka (Credit withheld)
The Anglophone crisis began in 2016 with protests by lawyers and teachers over the appointment of French-speaking officials in the minority English-speaking Northwest and Southwest regions, triggering a crackdown by the majority French-speaking government and a secessionist rebellion.
On 10 August, Mr Lekeaka published a photo of a soldier and a police officer on patrol in the southwestern city of Buea on the Facebook page All-About-Cameroon, to which he is a contributor, the page’s administrator told CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisal.
