Aliou Bah, leader of the opposition Liberal Democratic Movement (MoDel), has been arrested for allegedly insulting the military government in power since 2021.
His detention marks a significant escalation in the junta’s crackdown on dissent.
Bah was arrested on Thursday as he traveled to neighboring Sierra Leone with two colleagues. His lawyer, Antoine Pepe Lamah, condemned the arrest, calling Bah “a real prisoner of conscience.”
Lamah emphasized that Bah’s only crime was speaking out against the state, particularly its failure to address kidnappings and forced disappearances.
The arrest has drawn sharp criticism from human rights groups, who have decried the junta’s growing authoritarianism.
Since the 2021 coup that ousted civilian president Alpha Conde, the junta, led by General Mamady Doumbouya, has repeatedly targeted opposition figures, with many facing arrest or forced exile.
Bah’s detention is the latest in a series of actions by the junta that have raised alarms about the erosion of freedoms in Guinea.
Two opposition leaders remain missing since their arrest in July, and several high-profile figures, including a former army chief of staff and a prominent doctor, have died under mysterious circumstances in recent months.