Guinea's Doumbouya Pardons Opposition Leader Aliou Bah

General Mamadi Doumbouya, Guinea’s military ruler, granted a presidential pardon to opposition politician Aliou Bah, leader of the Liberal Democratic Movement (MoDeL), who had been jailed for nearly two years for insulting the head of state. Bah was detained in December 2024 and sentenced in January 2025 to two years in prison for “offending and insulting” the head of state.

His conviction stemmed from remarks urging Guinean religious leaders to address the political situation and criticizing the ruling National Committee of Reconciliation and Development (CNRD) as “incompetent.” An appeals court upheld his sentence in May 2025, despite prosecutors seeking a five-year term. The Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had previously requested Bah's immediate release.

His pardon was part of a larger decree that granted clemency to 217 prisoners to commemorate Guinea’s Independence Day, amid rising concerns from rights groups regarding political freedoms under Doumbouya's military government.