In a major political development marking the nation’s 68th Independence Day, Guinean opposition leader Aliou Bah has been granted a presidential pardon by junta chief General Mamadi Doumbouya after spending nearly two years in prison.
​The presidential decree, broadcast on national television via Radio Télévision Guinéenne (RTG) on Friday evening, October 2, 2026, confirmed full remission of sentence for Bah alongside clemency measures for 216 other inmates.
​Bah, president of the opposition Liberal Democratic Movement (MoDeL), was initially arrested on December 26, 2024, in the border town of Pamelap while attempting to cross into Sierra Leone.
Following his arrest, he was tried in Conakry and sentenced in January 2025 to two years in prison on charges of “offense, defamation, and insult” directed at General Doumbouya and the ruling National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD).
​The charges stemmed from public statements in late 2024 in which Bah criticized the military junta as “incompetent” and urged local religious leaders to break their silence over the country’s declining political freedoms. An appeals court in Conakry upheld his sentence in May 2025 despite prosecutors pushing for a five-year term.
​The case attracted regional attention when Bah’s legal defense team appealed to the ECOWAS Court of Justice. On June 25, 2026, the regional tribunal ruled that Bah’s arrest was arbitrary, ordering his immediate and unconditional release and citing fundamental rights violations. Despite the June directive, local authorities kept Bah detained at the Central Prison of Conakry until Friday’s executive order.
​Speaking on behalf of the military presidency in Conakry, General Secretary of the Presidency General Amara Camara emphasized that the wave of pardons reflected “a national spirit of reconciliation, social cohesion, and brotherhood” in conjunction with Independence Day celebrations.
​Supporters and members of MoDeL gathered outside the Central Prison late Friday evening to welcome Bah upon his release. Legal counsel representing the opposition leader, Counsel Souleymane Traoré, confirmed to reporters that Bah was in good health and reunited with his family, while reiterating that the defense team always maintained the initial conviction was politically motivated.
​General Doumbouya, who took power in a September 2021 coup against former President Alpha Condé, has faced ongoing criticism from civil society organisations and international observers over the suppression of political opponents and strict limitations on public demonstrations.
While human rights groups have welcomed Bah’s release, key political figures continue to call for wider democratic reforms and the release of remaining political detainees.
