Calls For Probe Into Guinea Opposition Supporters' Deaths

Authorities in Guinea must investigate the deaths of at least four people in detention and end a wave of arrests targeting at least 400 opposition and civil society members, following the announcement of the presidential election results in October 2020, Amnesty International and Human Right Watch has said. Four men detained as suspected political opposition supporters died in Guinea between November 2020 and January 2021. They were among hundreds of opposition supporters arrested around the time of the March 2020 referendum and the October 2020 presidential election. Guinean authorities have blamed the deaths on illness or natural causes, but family members of victims, their lawyers, and human rights activists have said that the four died following torture or other ill-treatment, including poor detention conditions and lack of access to adequate medical care for serious ailments. The arrests took place on the day that Guinea's electoral commission declared incumbent Alpha Condé the winner of the presidential election, amid unrest in various Conakry neighborhoods, including in Haifa Minière, where opposition supporters clashed with supporters of the ruling party and security forces.