Cameroonian journalist who was jailed for 10 years for contact with Boko haram group, gets reduced sentence

A Cameroonian journalist who was jailed since July 2015 in relation to his reporting on the extremist group Boko Haram, had his ten-year prison sentence reduced on Thursday by a Cameroonian military appeal court.
Ahmed Abba, a journalist for Radio France Internationale’s Hausa service, was jailed for 10 years on charges of "non-denunciation of terrorism" and "laundering of the proceeds of terrorist acts,"
Mr. Abba, however, has already served 29 months in prison and will likely be released from custody as soon as possible.
Reacting to the latest development, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in a statement said Mr. Abba was wrongly convicted of terrorism charges by a Cameroonian military court in April 2017 due to his reporting on the terrorist group Boko Haram.
He further explained that the military court struck out a charge of laundering money to terrorists but upheld a charge of “non-denunciation of terrorism,” which carries a 24-month sentence.
“We are delighted that Ahmed Abba will finally be free, having already spent 876 days in jail too many.  Abba was a victim of a monumental travesty of justice and should never have been arrested or charged in the first place,” said CPJ Africa Program Coordinator Angela Quintal. “He must now be free to pick up the pieces of his life and return to his journalism without further fear of reprisal.”
Rights Groups and RFI also welcomed Thursday’s ruling, saying: “This ruling is a victory for Abba, who has been detained for more than two years simply for doing his job as a journalist,” said Amnesty International Researcher, Ilaria Allegrozzi.




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