Cameroon renowned politician and human right activist has called on the Biya regime in Yaounde to reduce the prison population as an offensive to the spread of the killer virus in Cameroon.
In a tweet on Monday April 13, she said that many have been unduly arrested by the 38-year old regime.
“StandUp4Cameroon and many other actors have asked for prison population reduction to avoid precisely this” she tweeted referring to reports of a commotion in the Yaounde Central Prison in Kondengui on Monday April 13, caused by a suspected Covid-19 outbreak.
The president of the Cameroon People’s Party, CPP and founder of the group Cameroon Obosso, maintained that these prisoners have been unduly arrested in line with the Boko Haram crisis, Anglophone upheavals, political activists notably MRC and others awaiting trial or charge with misdemeanors.
In another tweet same day, she said “we have a regime that is unable to handle a single crisis but so active in creating multiple others.”
There’s no gain saying that most prison centres in Cameroon, currently host more than twice the capacity they were created to receive. Since the surge of the pandemic in the country in March endings, some Cameroonians took to social media urging their government to looking into a possible release of prisoners to avoid the spread.
On April 4, the U.N. human rights office urged countries to release prisoners from overcrowded facilities to reduce the risk of coronavirus infections spreading throughout the prison population and into the wider community
U.N. human rights spokesman Rupert Colville said prisoners at high-risk of infection, such as the elderly, people with disabilities, and pregnant women who pose no risk to society should be immediately released.
U.N. officials have also praised various governments heeding to High Commissioner Michele Bachelet’s prisoner release appeal.
In next door Nigeria 2,600 inmates have been freed with the approval of its leader, Muhammadu Buhari, DR Congo freed 1,200 prisoners, Tunisia 1,42o while Morocco set a record of 5,000 prisoners freed.
Countries like Iran have released around 54,000 prisoners estimated at about 40 percent of its prison population on a temporary basis; Indonesia released some 22,158 prisoners convicted of minor crimes and several other countries are considering similar action.
_By Macwalter Njapteh_
