A prominent civil society leader in Guinea, Abdoul Sacko, went missing in the early hours of February 19, 2025, after gunmen took him from his home in the capital Conakry, raising concerns about an enforced disappearance. He resurfaced that night bearing marks of torture.
Sacko, a critic of the military junta which took power in a September 2021 coup, is coordinator of the Guinean Social Forces’ Forum (Forum des Forces Sociales de Guinée, or FFSG), a civil society network calling for a return to the country’s constitutional order.
According to Sacko’s colleagues, gunmen broke into Sacko’s home at 4 a.m., beat him in front of his family, seized his phone, and took him away in a pick-up truck without license plates. On February 20, Sacko’s lawyers released a statement saying that their client had been found “in critical condition, [and] tortured” 100 kilometers from Conakry. He was taken to a local hospital.
Given his high profile, Sacko’s abduction sent shockwaves across Guinea and abroad. On February 19, the United States embassy in Guinea released a statement urging the government to “swiftly investigate the incident,” and denouncing the “uptick in detentions targeting journalists and civil society leaders.”
An FFSG leader told Human Rights Watch that eight FFSG members filed a court complaint in Conakry last month, following repeated threats they had experienced because of their activism. While they do not know where the threats originate from, their complaint is meant to ring an alarm bell.
Military authorities in Guinea have cracked down on the opposition, media, and civil society since taking power. They have used enforced disappearances to silence dissent and instill fear in those who oppose them. In July 2024, security forces tortured and forcibly disappeared prominent opposition members Oumar Sylla, known as Foniké Mengué, and Mamadou Billo Bah. To date, they are still disappeared and authorities have not acknowledged holding them in detention. In September 2024, the body of Col. Celestin Bilivogui, who disappeared in November 2023 after security forces arrested him, was found. Days after his disappearance, Guinea’s president had issued a decree dismissing Col. Bilivogui from the army for “misconduct.” In December 2024, gendarmes arrested investigative journalist Habib Marouane Camara. Authorities have failed to respond to multiple requests for information from Camara’s family about his whereabouts.
The troubling reports that Sacko was tortured should prompt swift action from the authorities. They should ensure that Sacko gets access to appropriate medical care and thoroughly investigate his abduction and torture.
