Washington, DC, 18 December 2016 – The Movement for the Restoration of the Independence of Southern Cameroons (MoRISC) on Sunday reiterated its call for the Government of La Republique du Cameroun to order the immediate and unconditional release of over 100 people who have been arrested, transferred to and are being detained without trial and without charge in the towns of Buea, Bamenda, Kumba and Yaounde.

More than two-dozens of those detained (aged between 18 and 30 years) were arrested in early December 2016 and are being held at the Bamenda Central Prison, in the North West Region of the Cameroons.

More than 100 other protesters are believed to be held in secret detention centers in the Cameroonian capital, Yaounde.

MoRISC is especially calling on the Government of La Republique du Cameroun to end the torture of these political prisoners. MoRISC denounces, in the strongest terms, the fact that detainees with injuries have not received any medical attention and that, for all the detainees in Bamenda, that their families were still unaware of their whereabouts as of the night of Sunday, 18 December 2016 – nearly two weeks since they were first arrested.

At least two dozen people – mostly young men – arrested in Bamenda on 6 December 2016 were first detained at the GMI Police Station in Bamenda before being transferred on 8 December 2016 to the Bamenda Central Prison.

Some of those detained are very ill and need medical attention, which their jailers have not provided. Mr. Joseph Asangong, for example, who was shot on the right lap, has still not received any medical care, according to our sources.

The colonial Senior Divisional Officer of Mezam Division, North West Region, signed the detention order, according to information provided by rights advocates.

Those held at the Bamenda Central Prison include the following:

1. Tatae Ncok
2. Roger Gadinga
3. Asangon Joseph
4. Penny Nickson Asobo
5. Che Roger Funwi
6. Mbah Louis
7. Bah Joel
8. Bruno Teneng
9. Valentine Biyenuah
10. Donsong Miafo Herman
11. Ngwa Denis
12. Tikom Charles
13. Niba Oliver
14. Nziki Solomon
15. Nkwenti Sama Emmanuel Penn
16. Mbi Louis
17. Akewo Casen
18. Kenneth Fobah
19. Acha Mbah Valary
20. Atawan Feojus
21. Yembeh Clinton
22. Mudoh Elvis Abong
23. Fongole Lesley
24. Menia Ferdinand
25. Winceslaus Azeh

Most of the parents of those arrested and detained do not even know of their whereabouts.