Human Rights Watch reported on Tuesday that Steve Akam, a Cameroonian social media activist and government critic, has been missing for three weeks since his arrest. The organization believes he may have been illegally returned to Cameroon from Gabon.
Akam, who had been residing in Gabon for the past decade, was last seen in a video showing him handcuffed and surrounded by Cameroonian police near the Gabonese border. The video, filmed about three weeks ago in Kye-Ossi, Cameroon, was circulated online.
Known on TikTok as Ramon Cotta, with over 30,000 followers, Akam’s last video criticized President Paul Biya’s policies in Cameroon’s anglophone regions.
Human Rights Watch condemned the Cameroonian government’s repression of opposition voices and freedom of speech, particularly ahead of the 2025 elections. The organization noted a pattern of increased restrictions on expression and association.
Cameroonian police declined to comment, and Akam’s lawyers could not be reached. The activist’s legal team suspects he was returned to Cameroon without due process.
Opposition leader Maurice Kamto has demanded proof of Akam’s wellbeing. The case echoes the recent controversy surrounding journalist Martinez Zogo, whose body was found mutilated last year after reporting on alleged embezzlement involving a government-affiliated media outlet.
Seventeen individuals, including business mogul Jean Pierre Amougou Belinga and counterintelligence chief Maxime Leopold Eko Eko, are on trial for Zogo’s murder. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for transparency in these cases and accountability for another journalist’s death in 2019.
