Guinea: RSF demands the authorities clarify the fate and whereabouts of journalist Habib Marouane Camara, detained in an unknown location
The managing director of the news website Le Révélateur 224, Habib Marouane Camara, was arrested by gendarmes on 3 December on unknown grounds, and taken to an unknown destination. His relatives have no news of him. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Guinean authorities to shed light on this “kidnapping” and calls for the journalist’s immediate release.
“Heavily armed gendarmes [...] clubbed him unconscious before taking him to an unknown destination,” read the statement issued by the news website Le Révélateur 224 announcing that its editor and general manager, Habib Marouane Camara, had been violently arrested by military officers on the evening of 3 December.
The journalist, a critic of Guinea's ruling junta, was on his way to Lambanyi, a commune of the capital Conakry, when a gendarmerie pick-up truck intercepted his vehicle. Armed men in military uniform smashed the windshield of his car, dragged him out of the vehicle and abducted him. The journalist's wife, Mariama Lamarana Diallo Camara, told RSF that she had been in contact with him until 8:05 pm, a few minutes before the violent arrest.
In a statement issued on 4 December, the journalist’s lawyers described the arrest as an “abduction”“ given the absence of a summons or court order. The journalist's family has had no news of him since.
After the military authorities arbitrarily withdrew the audiovisual licenses of six media outlets that they felt criticised their activities, they are now attacking journalists who challenge their authority. No journalist should be arrested for doing their job — especially not with violence. RSF condemns this brutal kidnapping and calls on the Guinean authorities to shed light on the fate and whereabouts of Habib Marouane Camara, who must be released immediately.
According to Habib Marouane Camara’s lawyers, on 27 November 2024 the journalist received “threats of imminent kidnapping by a group of hitherto unknown individuals.” His family had also received anonymous calls asking where he was.
When contacted by RSF, Information and Communication Minister Fana Soumah, said he had “no information at the moment,” and that “we will have to wait and see.”
The Union of Press Professionals of Guinea (SPPG) has “strongly condemned this kidnapping,” which was “recorded just a few hours after the release on the same Tuesday of another investigative journalist, Bakary Gamalo Bamba,” director of the newspaper Le Baobab, who had been arrested on 15 October. The SPPG also spoke to the Guinean Prime Minister, Amadou Oury Bah, who reaffirmed the government's "commitment to preserving press freedom,” yet pointed out that “a single word, misplaced, can set things alight".
Press freedom in Guinea has been particularly under threat for over a year. Despite the authorities' pledges, they illegally ordered the withdrawal of operating licences from four private radio stations and two private television channels in May.
