Guinea grants opposition figure Aliou Bah presidential pardon

Conakry, Guinea - President Mamadi Doumbouya has pardoned opposition politician Aliou Bah, who had been jailed for nearly two years for insulting the junta leader. This release comes at a time when human rights groups and political opponents allege that Guinea's military rulers are tightening their control over dissent since seizing power in 2021.

Doumbouya pardoned 217 prisoners to mark the country's independence day, with Bah among those released. Bah, the head of the Liberal Democratic Movement, was detained since December 2024 and was sentenced in January of the previous year for insulting and insulting the head of state. The court upheld his two-year sentence despite prosecutors seeking a five-year term.

An appeals court had also ruled in May 2025 that Bah should be immediately and unconditionally released. In September 2025, the ECOWAS Court of Justice had asked Guinea's Supreme Court to order his release. Doumbouya seized power in September 2021 after overthrowing President Alpha Conde, Guinea's first democratically elected leader.

He consolidated his grip on power after winning a December 2025 presidential election without any significant opposition. Opposition parties have accused the military authorities of systematically restricting political freedoms, with several major political parties having been dissolved, demonstrations banned or dispersed by security forces, and critics arrested, convicted, forced into exile, or going missing.