Hundreds rally in Chad for release of opposition leader Masra

By Africanews with AFP

Hundreds gathered on Wednesday in N’Djamena to demand the release of Chadian opposition leader and former premier Succes Masra, who has been in custody for almost a year.

The activists were members of Les Transformateurs (Transformers), the country’s largest opposition party, which was marking its eighth anniversary at the party’s headquarters in the capital.

Most of those attending were young people, protesting under intense heat and carrying signs calling for the release of Masra, one of President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno’s fiercest critics.

“An innocent man is today deprived of his freedom and basic rights for having carried the voice and embodied the hope of the entire people,” said Ngagorngar Tog‑Yeum, secretary‑general of the Transformers Party.

He also called for the release of several other opposition figures from the GCAP movement arrested in recent days, saying they — like Masra — “have no business being in prison”.

Last August, Masra was sentenced to 20 years in prison by a N’Djamena court. He was convicted of hate speech, xenophobia and having incited a massacre, referring to the intercommunal violence that killed 42 people in May.

Trained as an economist in France and Cameroon, Masra had been a fierce opponent of the ruling authorities before they named him prime minister five months ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Masra faced off against Deby in the 2024 presidential elections, winning 18.5 percent against Deby’s 61.3 percent, but claimed victory.