Dual U.S. and
Cameroonian citizen and New York literature professor Patrice Nganang, 37, has
been released Wednesday after being held in the Central African
nation of
Cameroon since early this month for criticizing the government.
The
professor from New York's Stony Brook University faced a Jan. 19 hearing after
being detained in Dec. 7 while trying to leave Cameroon.
According to
supporters, the charges against him ranged from issuing a death threat;
insulting constitutional bodies, specifically the military; and inciting
violence in a Facebook post.
The court in
Yaounde announced early Wednesday that he was released and that all charges
were dropped. According to his lawyer Emmanuel Simh, Nganang has been expelled
to an unknown destination and has been told not to return.
Nganang had
written an article for Jeune Afrique that criticized how the Cameroon
government sometimes handled violent secessionist movement in some
English-speaking areas that have complained about discrimination by French
speakers.
Human rights
groups that have accused Cameroon authorities of trying to silence opposition
voices have rallied for Nganang's release.
"We can
only be very happy, when we have an unlawfully and arbitrarily detained client,
to see him released," Simh said.
Cameroon had
faced international pressure over his conviction.
0 Comments