Abdoul Wahabou Ndandjouma

Abdoul Wahabou Ndandjouma (Cameroon) was a 36-year-old man from N’Gaoundéré, in the Adamawa area of northern Cameroon, who died in police detention on January 17, 2025, little than 24 hours after being arrested. Four plainclothes cops detained him without a warrant at his business, charging him and his friend, Mohaman Toukour Nana, of drug smuggling. No proof of drug selling was discovered at any location. Both men were brought to the judicial police station in N’Gaoundéré. Nana was freed on the same day without charge. Nana told Human Rights Watch that from the next questioning room, he could hear Ndandjouma crying in pain and pleading with authorities to take him to hospital. A police commissioner showed up at about 4 p.m. and got into a violent argument with the cops, insisting that Ndandjouma be sent to the hospital right away. He passed away before to that. The Adamawa region’s governor phoned Ndandjouma’s father early on January 18 and instructed him to pick up his son’s remains from the local hospital. At first, his father resisted, informing the governor that his son had been healthy prior to his detention and requesting an autopsy and inquiry. Between January 20 and 24, an autopsy was performed, but the family was not informed of the findings. On behalf of the family, a lawyer filed a police complaint. Nobody has been held responsible. . His death occurred during a broader government crackdown on dissent ahead of Cameroon’s presidential elections, a pattern the UN Committee against Torture had raised concerns about just weeks earlier, citing the large number of violent deaths in Cameroonian detention facilities and the frequent use of torture and denial of medical care as causes of death in custody.