President’s nemesis carted off to prison after calling out military abductions

Aliou Bah asked religious leaders to break their silence on the disappearance of political activists and called the military junta incompetent. He will now spend two years in prison.

Tangi Bihan in Conakry

Junta’s wrath: Aliou Bah after at an earlier appearance. (Photo: Aliou Bah/Facebook)

Police blocked journalists and several dozen supporters of the Liberal Democratic Movement from entering the Conakry Court of Appeal to hear the judge deliver the verdict.

It was one of Aliou Bah’s lawyers, Galissa Hady Diallo, who would announce it to the anxious crowd: “The judge merely stated that she fully upholds the ruling made by the court of first instance,” he said after the Wednesday session.

Supporters of the detained political leader shouted in response: “Down with Guinean justice! Down with injustice!”

Bah, a political outsider who has become one of the main symbols of resistance to General Mamadi Doumbouya’s rule, was first sentenced in January.

The two year prison terms followed charges that he had offended and defamed Doumbouya. The offence was a reported Bah remark made about the military group ruling the country, officially named the National Committee of Reconciliation and Development, calling it incompetent.

He criticised what he saw as a lack of transparency in how the government is managing a $20-billion mining project, Simandou.

Bah also reportedly called on religious leaders to speak out about the enforced disappearances of activists. Foniké Menguè and Billo Bah, leaders of a protest movement, disappeared in July, and journalist Habib Marouane Camara has also not been seen since December.

Witnesses and their lawyers say that all were abducted at night by men in military uniforms.

The authorities denied any involvement in their disappearances and have pegged Bah’s prosecution for defamation on the claims.

Stuck choices

After the verdict on Bah’s appeal was announced, police vans pulled up to the entrance of the court to take him away, preventing journalists from taking photographs. Bah could still be seen as he was driven back to Conakry’s main prison, raising his fist as his supporters chanted, “President! President!”

His lawyer and party officials said they had not yet given up the legal battle. They plan to appeal to Guinea’s Supreme Court and have petitioned the regional Ecowas court.

The Conakry court outcome highlights the stark choices facing critics of the junta: exile or prison. Major leaders fled Guinea, including Cellou Dalein Diallo, Sidya Touré, and former president Alpha Condé – whom Doumbouya replaced in a 2021 coup. The vacuum propelled the hitherto little-known Bah to prominence.

Abductions have continued during Bah’s imprisonment. Another civil society leader, Abdoul Sacko, was kidnapped in February from his home in Conakry, tortured and abandoned in a field, about 100km from the city.

The court outcome also arrests Bah’s political trajectory, as he will likely be in prison during the elections scheduled for late 2025. With other political leaders in exile, Doumbouya is expected to win the election with little opposition.