Essama Hoo Haa Arrested: Paul Biya’s Regime Still Waging War on Freedom
The Price of Speaking Truth in Cameroon
Cameroonian activist Essama Hoo Haa a well-known social justice campaigner from Douala has been arrested and detained in New Bell Prison after publishing a video in which he denounced President Paul Biya’s regime for the killings of peaceful protesters across the country.
In his video, Essama spoke passionately about the Cameroonians who lost their lives during peaceful walks and demonstrations, condemning what he called “state crimes committed in broad daylight.” Days later, he was picked up by security forces, reportedly without a warrant, and transferred to New Bell, one of Cameroon’s most notorious detention centers infamous for its overcrowding, torture, and degrading conditions.
His arrest is not an isolated act. It’s part of a systematic campaign to silence dissent, crush free expression, and maintain the climate of fear that has defined Biya’s 42-year rule.
A Regime That Fears Its Own People
Since taking power in 1982, Paul Biya has ruled Cameroon through a combination of manipulation, patronage, and intimidation. Every citizen who dares to criticize the regime risks becoming an “enemy of the state.”
From journalists and musicians to teachers, lawyers, and ordinary citizens no one is safe when the state feels its image is being challenged.
Essama’s only “crime” was to speak out about the bodies of unarmed citizens killed in protests. For that, he has been treated like a criminal.
This is the same Cameroon where journalist Martinez Zogo was brutally murdered in 2023 for exposing corruption; where activist Abdul Karim Ali was detained multiple times without trial; and where hundreds of Anglophone civilians have been arbitrarily arrested in the name of “national security.”
Criminalizing Dissent, Controlling the Narrative
Essama’s arrest reveals a deep fear within the regime: the fear of truth.
By jailing him, the government is sending a message criticism equals crime.
Under Cameroon’s repressive Law on Terrorism (2014) and Cybercrime Law (2010), authorities have built a legal façade to target activists, bloggers, and opposition voices. Peaceful protest is labeled as “insurrection,” journalism is called “hate speech,” and social media activism is rebranded as “destabilization.”
The result? A country where silence is survival, and speech is rebellion.
New Bell Prison: A Symbol of State Cruelty
New Bell Prison, where Essama is being held, has become a graveyard for freedom fighters. Overcrowded, unsanitary, and violent, it stands as a chilling metaphor for the Biya regime itself crumbling yet cruelly efficient at destroying lives.
Human rights reports have documented torture, prolonged pre-trial detention, and political imprisonment inside its walls. Dozens of political prisoners from Ambazonian activists to MRC party supporters languish there simply for demanding a freer Cameroon.
Essama now joins that long list of citizens punished for courage.
Cameroon’s Unending War on Freedom
Whether it’s the Anglophone conflict in the Northwest and Southwest regions, the banning of peaceful marches by the MRC (Movement for the Renaissance of Cameroon), or the imprisonment of online voices like Essama the message from Yaoundé is clear: there is no room for opposition.
The regime’s tactics arbitrary arrests, surveillance, and propaganda reveal a government that rules not through legitimacy, but through fear.
Even social media, once a refuge for free thought, has become a new battlefield where activists like Essama are tracked, targeted, and silenced.
From Douala to the Diaspora: The Struggle Continues
But despite the repression, Cameroon’s young generation is no longer afraid.
From the streets of Douala to the exiled communities abroad, Cameroonians are reclaiming their voices through art, protest, journalism, and digital activism.
Essama’s arrest may silence him temporarily, but his message about truth, justice, and the right to speak will echo louder than ever.
A Fanonian Closing
As Frantz Fanon once declared:
“Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it, or betray it.”
Essama’s generation has discovered its mission to break Cameroon’s long night of fear.
To arrest him is to arrest a voice of conscience, but no prison can cage a people’s awakening.
Freedom of speech is not a privilege granted by the state; it is a birthright. And in Cameroon, that birthright is being reborn one act of courage at a time.
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