Media Defence has filed a claim against Cameroon at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) in the case of Cameroonian journalist, Samuel Abuwe Ajiekha, popularly known as Samuel Wazizi.
In August 2019, Wazizi was arrested in connection with his critical reporting on the Cameroonian government’s handling of the Anglophone Crisis. His whereabouts was concealed for nearly ten months, despite countless attempts to locate him.
In 2020, the government issued a press release stating that Wazizi had died in military detention two weeks after his arrest, claiming severe sepsis as the cause of his death. Photographs of Wazizi viewed by RSF showed injuries consistent with the use of torture prior to his death. There was no autopsy, and Wazizi’s body has still not been returned to his family.
To this day, not even a cursory investigation into the circumstances of his death has been carried out – let alone a transparent, independent investigation in line with well-established international human rights standards. Instead, the Cameroonian government has engaged in a campaign of intimidation and threats against those attempting to uncover the circumstances of his detention, disappearance and death.
The Case of Samuel Wazizi
Wazizi was a renowned broadcast journalist and cameraman for CMTV, an independent English-language television channel based in Buea, in Cameroon’s South-West region.
This is one of the two regions where in 2016 protests against deepening marginalisation of the English-speaking minority were violently repressed by the Francophone-led government, fuelling the emergence of separatist movements and the ongoing Anglophone Crisis.
Wazizi hosted the popular Pidgin-language news programme Hala Your Mata (Shout out your Problem) where he reported critically on the government’s handling of the crisis. Authorities arrested Wazizi shortly after he covered allegations of government killings in the Anglophone regions.
Arbitrary Arrest
On 2 August 2019, four police officers approached Wazizi at work, claiming their superior wanted to discuss “information about certain Pidgin News.” Although officers initially told him he was not under arrest, he was taken into custody upon arrival at the Muea Police Station in Buea. He was not shown an arrest warrant, informed of any charges, or granted bail, and his phone was confiscated.
Officers informed him that he was being detained in connection with Cameroon’s anti-terrorism laws on allegations of “collaborating with separatists” and “spreading separatist information.”
These and similar charges are frequently misused by the state to silence journalists and carry penalties ranging from life imprisonment to a death sentence. Wazizi denied all allegations, and he was never formally charged.
Wazizi’s fear for his wellbeing was clear from the written instruction he gave his lawyer, urging them to “use all means possible to secure [his] release on bail.” A journalist who saw Wazizi at the police station, told CPJ in an interview that Wazizi had said to him, “Don’t let me die in here.”
Held Incommunicado in Military Detention
Authorities told Wazizi’s lawyer on 6 August 2019, four days after his arrest, that he would be handed over to the judicial police, who had authority to investigate anti-terrorism charges. However, on August 7, they transferred Wazizi to the 21st Motorised Infantry Battalion in Buea – a battalion tasked with “ensuring the territorial integrity of the country by completely eradicating terrorists and outlaws.” The unit has no legal competence to conduct criminal investigations against civilians and is notorious for acts of torture and the inhumane conditions under which detainees are held.
Demands from Wazizi’s lawyer for his immediate release went unanswered. He was denied all access to his client and informed that lawyers were not permitted on the premises. From the moment Wazizi was placed in military custody, he was held incommunicado. Although human rights organisations later reported that he had been transferred to Yaoundé on 13 August 2019, neither Wazizi’s family nor his lawyers were officially informed of any change in his place of detention.
Admission of Death and Reports of Torture
On 2 June 2020, ten months after his arrest, a privately-owned, independent TV station, Équinoxe TV, reported that Wazizi had died in a military hospital in Yaoundé, citing a source close to the military high command.
This was quickly followed by an official statement by Cameroon’s Ministry of Defence claiming that Wazizi had in fact died of from “severe sepsis” on 17 August 2019 – just two weeks after his initial arrest. The statement emphasised that this was not the result of “any act of torture or physical abuse.”
Photographs seen by Reporters Without Borders, taken during his transfer to Yaoundé, showed visible injuries on several parts of his body, suggesting he had likely been tortured in the days prior. The claim was echoed by other sources.
No autopsy has ever been conducted, and Wazizi’s family has repeatedly been denied access to his remains. In October 2021, his lawyers sought to arrange an independent autopsy, but the forensic expert was refused a visa to enter Cameroon. Although the whereabouts of his remains are unknown, according to an activist source, Wazizi was buried on a farm in Mfou, near Yaoundé, which is used as a training site by the secret service.
The Ministry of Defence has falsely claimed that Wazizi had been in close contact with his family until his death and that his relatives had failed to arrange his funeral.
In reality, for nearly ten months, Wazizi’s family and lawyers made every effort to learn where he was and whether he was alive – this included filing multiple court cases. Yet, they received no answers about his location, his condition, or his fate. Those close to Wazizi also noted that he had been in perfect health at the time of his arrest.
Unmet Promises to Investigate
Under mounting international pressure, President Paul Biya announced in June 2020 that an investigation would be opened into Wazizi’s death. According to the Cameroonian National Commission for Human Rights and Freedoms, the findings of that investigation – conducted by military security – were delivered to the president in October 2020.
Yet by April of the following year, Joseph Beti Assomo, Minister Delegate at the Presidency in charge of Defence, stated that “the conclusions of the said investigations are still awaited”. To date, no results have been released – it remains unclear whether any investigation ever took place at all.
Following the UN Committee Against Torture’s review of Cameroon in Geneva in November 2024, Cameroonian journalist and human rights activist, Mimi Mefo Newuh reported that a government representative, Nsegbe Belombe Patrick from the Ministry of Justice, declared the case of Samuel Wazizi officially closed, with the file now classified.
Legal Proceedings
Following Wazizi’s arrest, Media Defence worked closely with his legal counsel in Cameroon on two Habeas Corpus applications – legal actions aimed at challenging unlawful detention and determining the whereabouts of a person whose location is unknown.
Both cases faced excessive and unnecessary delays and were ultimately dismissed on baseless grounds, reflecting a troubling disregard for the efforts of Wazizi’s family to seek justice for his death.
Notably, the second Habeas Corpus application was rejected on the grounds that Wazizi had been moved out of the High Court’s jurisdiction. This reasoning is deeply flawed: by its very nature, a Habeas Corpus application is filed in the jurisdiction where a person was last known to be detained, precisely because it seeks to determine their whereabouts when they have disappeared.
Once his death was announced, Wazizi’s counsel, supported by Media Defence, filed two further applications between June and July 2020, requesting that the High Court order an independent and impartial inquiry into Wazizi’s death. In both cases these requests were denied.
Remedy and redress were blocked at every stage of the domestic process, underscoring long-standing concerns over the lack of judicial independence in Cameroon, where courts operate under political pressure and interference.
Given the domestic context, Media Defence filed a complaint before the ACHPR in August 2024, followed by detailed submissions on admissibility and merits in June 2025.
Filing to the African Commission
Our submission argues that Samuel Wazizi’s arrest, detention, and death expose serious breaches of Cameroon’s human rights obligations under the African Charter.
Wazizi’s incommunicado detention, enforced disappearance, and death in custody constitute grave violations of Article 4 (right to life), Article 5 (prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment), and Article 6 (right to liberty and security of the person). The State’s failure to conduct an effective and independent investigation into his death also breaches its procedural obligations under these provisions.
Together, these violations reflect the systemic repression and impunity that continues to undermine press freedom and the rule of law in Cameroon.
Broader Context for Journalists in Cameroon
Cameroon remains one of the most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, who continue to face arbitrary detention, harassment, and violence, often with complete impunity for the perpetrators. Since the onset of the Anglophone crisis, press freedom and access to information have deteriorated sharply.
Anglophone journalists and others reporting on the crisis have been systematically targeted under Cameroon’s anti-terrorism laws – detained for long periods without charge, denied access to lawyers, and increasingly tried before military tribunals that disregard international fair trial standards. Lawyers defending them face similar reprisals, including intimidation, arbitrary arrest, and violence, with some forced into hiding or exile.
Like other journalists, including Martinez Zogo, who was abducted and killed after exposing state corruption; Kingsley Njoka, arrested and detained on allegations of “secessionism” and collaboration with armed groups; and Tsi Conrad, sentenced to 15 years in prison for documenting police violence, Wazizi was targeted for his public interest journalism. Media Defence has provided legal support to both Njoka and Conrad, including representation before the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Conrad’s case.
These violations form part of a wider pattern of state control over information. In January 2017, the government imposed one of the longest internet shutdowns in Africa’s history – lasting 94 days. Media Defence, together with the local law firm Veritas Law, challenged the shutdown in domestic courts.
Yet similar tactics persist. In early October 2025, following contentious national elections that saw 92-year-old President Paul Biya – the world’s oldest serving head of state – declared re-elected for an eighth consecutive term, internet access was severely disrupted. While the government attributed the outage to a submarine cable cut, many observers believe it was a politically motivated attempt to stifle dissent.
Impunity Must Not Persist
A full and independent investigation into Wazizi’s death is imperative. The government must hold accountable those responsible for his death and the ten-month concealment of his fate and ensure that his body is promptly returned to his family. The state must also provide adequate compensation to his relatives and take concrete measures to prevent such abuses from recurring.
Justice for Wazizi’s family is essential, not only to honour his memory, but to defend the rule of law and press freedom in a country where impunity for crimes against journalists remains routine.
