Cameroon: Missing Activist Discovered in Jail with Signs of Torture, Rights Group Report

By Boris Esono Nwenfor

BUEA, Cameroon – International human rights organization, Human Rights Watch has called for the release of Steve Akam, better known as Ramon Cotta on TikTok as a matter of urgency and ensure that his rights are respected

The Cameroonian social media activist and government critic who disappeared last month has been located in a security cell of the military court in Yaoundé, Cameroon's capital, with signs of torture, Human Rights Watch said Tuesday.

The lawyers of Steve Akam, better known as Ramon Cotta on TikTok, was extrajudicially returned to Cameroon from Gabon, where he had been living for the past decade. Human Rights Watch gained access to him in custody in Yaoundé and found him partially paralysed with severe visual impairments, the international rights group said.

Akam, an outspoken critic of the Cameroon government was last seen in a video circulated online that showed him handcuffed and surrounded by Cameroonian police near the border with Gabon. In a recent video on the social media platform, he accused Biya of pursuing a war in Cameroon's anglophone regions to remain in power.

Ilaria Allegrozzi, senior researcher at Human Rights Watch, said Akam "may already have lost his sight and ability to walk properly as a result of torture, so prompt action is immediately needed."

She called on Cameroon to provide medical treatment and investigate the signs of torture. Cameroon's government did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Rights organization.

“There are worrying reports that Cotta may already have lost his sight and ability to walk properly as a result of torture, so prompt action is immediately needed,” said Illaria Allegrozzi, senior Sahel researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Cameroonian authorities should ensure that he urgently gets access to appropriate and adequate medical care, and thoroughly investigate Cotta’s apparent torture.”

"Instead of respecting the work of social media activists, Cameroon's authorities and security forces forcibly disappeared and tortured Cotta. They should release him as a matter of urgency and ensure that his rights are respected,” Allegrozzi added.

Cotta's lawyers said DGRE members interrogated Cotta twice, tortured him, including with serious beatings during one of the interrogations, and subjected him to other inhuman and degrading treatment.

"Cotta told us that DGRE agents tied his hands and feet and walked over him repeatedly and that they beat him multiple times," said Hippolyte Tiakouang Meli, one of Cotta’s lawyers. “He also reported that he was held in a room where he was exposed to very bright lights through a projector, which caused him serious eye issues.”

Cotta’s lawyers said their client has been charged with acts of terrorism, insurrection, financing of terrorism, arms trafficking, and insulting the head of state and members of the government. They said he was not taken before a judge, but instead before the military prosecutor twice. “The first time, we were not informed,” said Meli. “The second time, on August 20, we were informed and could speak with our client.”

Cameroonian law gives the military judicial system jurisdiction over civilians charged with terrorism offences, even though this is incompatible with international norms. The UN Human Rights Committee has long called on Cameroon to reform this aspect of its laws, which violates fair trial guarantees.