The defense team informs the local and international press, diplomatic and international bodies accredited to Yaoundé, local and international human rights organizations, and the public in general with a lot of pain that;
ABDUL KARIM ALI, the trusted Muslim Scholar, Community Leader, and Peace Crusader, particularly within the context of the fierce war in the two English Regions of Cameroon, has clocked (120) one hundred and twenty days in pretrial detention without being formally charged
He was abducted by the Company Commander of Legion Bamenda and a battalion of gendarmerie officers on August 11, 2022, after his return from a peace mission in Kenya at the mixed checkpoint of Parcour Vita Military Base at NtamulungBamenda in the presence of his father, wife, and nephew. He was seized[ES1] under very terrifying circumstances without due process. His captors never presented any writ or informed him of the reasons for his kidnap, in gross violation of his fundamental human rights.
He was arbitrarily incarcerated at Legion de Gendarmerie Nationale up-station Bamenda for (84) eighty-four days on the allegation that he produced a video critical of the serial of monstrous acts of torture and atrocities exacted fragrant delicto on civilians’ by ChiefEwomeEkobo John Alias Moja Moja of Bwassa village sea, Fako Division, South West Region before being ferried to service Central des Recherchersjudiciares (SCRJ) of the Secretariat of State of National Defense (SED) Yaoundé where he has been further detained for (36) thirty-six days) at press time.
The flow of Abdul Karim’s kidnap storyline is eloquent to the effect that he was at AchaAnnex Hospital Ntamulung with his wife and father to assist his mother, freshly admitted as an emergency case late afternoon of August 11,th 2022. While in the hospital, news reached them that the military intercepted his nephew at the mixed checkpoint at Parcour Vita, who was driving Abdul’s car on the return from their house to the hospital to give bed sheets to their mother.
His nephew was perplexed that the same military of the mixed checkpoint that allowed him to go to the house to pick up the sheets had to order him to park the vehicle outside and enter the military Base. As soon as Abdul got information about the incident, he left the hospital rapidly with his father for the scene. On arrival, he entered the military base to find out what was going on while his father remained outside.
One overzealous gendarme officer by the name of ZAKI DAGA in a stupor told him the lone person to resolve the matter is their boss. Abdul’s wife, MAIRAMA FRIDA ABDOUL, who was equally in the hospital having waited for several minutes for the return of her husband and his Dad, took a fast bike to the scene. Her father-in-law informed her that Abdul was inside. She inquired why he was inside. Some military officers on post responded to her in Fulani that there was no problem. That the Company Commander of Legion ordered them to keep Abdul and wait for him to arrive.
At about 6:30 pm, the Company Commander alighted from an armored vehicle under the rain and entered the base. Abdul’s wife and father observed the scene with rapt attention from outside. The commander greeted Abdul and ordered his nephew to go outside and take his car away. He ordered Abdul to enter the armored vehicle full of heavily armed battalion without notifying him of the destination. They drove off towards up-station. Abdul’s father and wife followed closely and discovered that he was taken into Groupement. As they made frantic attempts to inquire about his whereabouts, they were fiercely ordered to disappear.
On August 12, 2022, they returned to Groupement with food to visit Abdul, and behold, they were informed he was not there. Meantime, the aggressive forces at the command post ordered them to keep the food and disappear else they will be arrested. Stuck in terror, they abandoned the food without tasting it and returned to the hospital, where news reached them that a convoy of armored vehicles accompanied Abdul to their family compound wherein they conducted a systematic search.
They proceeded to comb the entire residence right to the toilets and the rest of its appurtenances. They started from Abdul’s house to his mother’s home in her absence as she was lying critically ill in the hospital. The search was a gross charade because those who conducted it were not armed with a search warrant or allowed to be searched by Abdul before entering various premises. The objects they took were Abdul’s laptop and his mother’s phone.
After the search, Abdul was taken back to an unknown destination where he was caged incommunicado under very decaying and degrading conditions for several days without food or water. The cell he crouched in was hermetic without a window and had a single bucket that served as a urinary, toilet, and for bathing. The filth of urine spilled across the floor while the stench of feces choked him throughout. The bucket was seldom emptied at dawn.
After the illegal search during the day, Conrad Onana extracted Abdulnocturnally from his cage and up to their legion office, where he met ColonelBissou Raymond. They grilled him about why he produced and broadcasted a video condemning Moja Moja. They warned ABDULthatMoja Mojais a patriotic valiant Cameroonian fighting Ambazonian separatists and should be hailed by everyone for his actions and must not be criticized by Abdul. Abdul was taken back to his cell at about 1:00 am on August 13, 2022, after an obnoxious encounter wherein the military officers deprived him of his right to the audience. On August 13, 2022, the wife of Abdul and his father combed all the gendarmerie units in Bamenda in vain. On August 14, 2022, they went to the legion and she insisted she must see and serve food to her husband. The military on post told her the same story that he was not there. She vowed not to keep the food again but the military threatened that if she insisted further they will arrest her, and she abandoned the food without tasting it [ES2].
On August 15th, 2022 lawyers who had the same challenge of accessing Abdul staged a stiff fight, and the officers of the legion finally capitulated by accepting his presence in their cell and consequently granted access toAbdul’sfamily to visit and give him food.
A few days later, the military mounted pressure on Abdul’s father to bring the charger of Abdul’s laptop and that of his mothers’ phone they seized during their illegal search. Abdul’s father yielded to their demands for fear of further repression. He had already faced threats and six hours of grilling on why he allowed his son to produce a video critical of the atrocities of MojaMoja, which scared him and he succumbed to all the demands of the military.
After handing the chargers, the military grilled Abdul’sfather once again about whether the lady with whom he has been bringing food is his legal wife of Abdul and he responded positively. They sent him to inform her to bring Abdul’s passport, her passport, and the passport of all his children immediately else they will use all their means to take it from her. Abdul’s wife told her father-in-law to tell them that the said passport was not in her keeping and that they should ask Abdul. After her denial, they began threatening her with phone calls that since she had opted to block their investigation by withholding Abdul’s passport, they will come for her.[ES3] Exasperatingly, BigjaBidja sent moles that appeared incognito and began monitoring her movements in the neighborhoods of Nkwen. In the same line, they flooded her with warnings via phone calls that they will smoke her out of any hideout she found herself in.
Abdul’s illegal incarceration was rapidly transformed into a hostage-taking/ransom collection venture by some officers of the National gendarmerie of North West Region VIZ The Legion Commander North West Region, The Company Commander of Bamenda, The Commandant of Groupement Bamenda, Brigade Commander Mendakwe and their Collaborators; Lieutenant Talom, BidjaBidja, LiboireEdouOvounou, and others. On August 23, 2022, one of Abdul’sbrothersRabioEnuah was abducted by BidjaBidjawhen he went up to visit him on watery and unsubstantiated allegations that he is Abdul’s driver
He is currently held at (SED) with Abdul and this has sent strong waves down the spine ofAbdul’sentourage that all of his relatives are imperiled. That is why; his wife and children disappeared to unknown locations while more are likely to do the same if the specter of the military continues to loom over them.
After the arrest of Rabioa a few days after they stormed the home of his kid brother FAYSAL MAMUDA and carried out a systematic search in vain. After their fruitless search, they captured his junior brother and detained him incommunicado for two weeks at several locations beginning from Groupement to Brigade Mendakwe. The outcome was that the gendarmerie officers collected a total sum 1 400 000 (One million four hundred thousand francs) in ransom from the parents of Rabio and released his kid brother but transferred radio to Yaoundé. On the other hand, YENKONGSULEMANUabductedon November 19, 2022, by four unidentified persons at about 4 pm from his restaurant at Nkwenwas ferried on board a vehicle to up-station where he only discovered himself at Groupement. No warrant was presented to him nor was he notified of the reasons for his abduction.
While at GroupementBamenda his legs were chained before he was transferred to the Brigade Mendankwe where he was detained incommunicado without food or water till the next day. The officers tortured him and requested 500,000 FCFA (five hundred thousand francs) in exchange for freedom. He linked them to his family but they refused to pay the ransom. They told the Lieutenant who was demanding that they would not continue to enrich some military officers who have transformed the war zone into their ransom-taking venture. After their refusal, Yenkong was ferried to SED Yaoundé by Colonel Raymond and one Lieutenant. The allegation against him is that he is Abdul’s driver. On their journey to Yaoundé, he was detained in Mbouda for about three hours and in Bagangte from 10 pm -10 am.
YENKONG SULEMANU and RabioEnuahboth detained with Abdul at SCRJ, have filed complaints to the secretary of State of the minister of defense in charge of national gendarmerie to investigate and sanction the gendarmerie officers suspected to be at the epicenter of hostage-taking/ransom collection. They are available to be interrogated on the subject at the convenience of the intelligence officers of the National gendarmerie and the press.
The defense team through their narration is calling on the International Community, the Press, and Human Rights Organizations to investigate these abuses that grossly violate the fundamental Human Rights of suspects in times of crisis and demand the State of Cameroon respect her Constitution and other International instruments duly ratified by the Government. Release our clients forthwith, for when justice is done, it brings joy to the oppressed and the righteous but terror to the oppressors and the evildoers.
Done in Buea this 09/12/2022
Signed
