AA / Yaoundé / Peter Kum
An Equatoguinean opponent with Spanish nationality died in custody, media sources learned on Monday.
“Julio Obama Mefuman, 51, Spanish citizen, opponent of the regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema, incarcerated in a prison in Equatorial Guinea since 2020, died in a hospital in Mongomo,” Spanish newspaper “El País” reported.
According to this newspaper, the death of this opponent in the prison of Oveng Azem (Mongomo), located in the east of the country was confirmed by “Spanish official sources”.
El País noted that the opponent “Obama was kidnapped and tortured by senior officials of this country, according to a judicial investigation by the National Court”.
“El Periódico de España”, another Spanish newspaper, reported that Obama’s political party, “Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea, pointed out that he died as a result of the torture he suffered and urged the Spanish government to sever relations with the Equatoguinean government.
The same newspaper reported in an article on Sunday that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Equatorial Guinea, “indicated that it was taking the necessary measures following Obama’s death through the embassy of Spain in Malabo and the Consulate in Bata”.
In a tweet on Sunday, the Equatoguinean opponent, Andrés Esono Ondo, of the Equatoguinean party CPDS (Convergence for Social Democracy), indicated that “the death of Julio Obama in the prison of Oveng Azém is confirmed”.
According to Andrés Esono Ondo, “Obama was a Spanish citizen and the government of Equatorial Guinea must open an international investigation to clarify what happened and allow all the prisoners to be visited by their families”.
The Equatoguinean authorities did not comment on the death of this opponent until Monday morning.
As a reminder, it was on November 15, 2019 that four opponents of the Obiang regime, all residing in Spain and two of whom hold the nationality of this country, Feliciano Efa Mangue and Julio Obama Mefuman, had been “reported missing” a few days following their arrived in South Sudan, “abducted and transferred to Equatorial Guinea”, was alarmed on January 8, 2020 Amnesty International in a press release.
The four were members of the Movement for the Liberation of the Third Republic of Equatorial Guinea (MLGE3R), a political opposition movement in exile in Spain.
MM. Efa Mangue and Obama Mefuman were sentenced in March 2020 in Malabo to 90 and 60 years in prison respectively, for having participated in an “attempted coup” once morest President Obiang in December 2017.
Earlier this year, the Spanish National Court, one of the highest courts in the country, indicted three prominent political figures from Equatorial Guinea for “terrorism” and “torture” once morest Mr. Mefuman and his co-defendants. .
They are Carmelo Ovono Obiang, one of the sons of leader Teodoro Obiang and head of the foreign security service, Nicolas Obama Nichama, head of internal security, and Isaac Nguema Endo, director general of presidential security.
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