Elderly father of Guinean journalist Mamoudou Babila Keita abducted

Dakar, October 7, 2025—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on Guinean authorities to ensure that Elhadj Adama Keita, father of exiled Guinean journalist Mamoudou Babila Keita, is safely returned home, following his abduction by unidentified men.

On September 29, two men grabbed 75-year-old Adama Keita by the neck and forced him into a pickup vehicle outside his house in the southeastern town of Nzérékoré, his son, Ibrahima Keita, told local media, and a person with knowledge of the case told CPJ, on condition of anonymity, citing fear of reprisals.

The previous day, unidentified men were seen near the family home after asking people in the neighborhood for the location of “Babila Keita’s family,” those sources said.

“The circumstances of Elhadj Adama Keita’s abduction raise fears that he is being punished for the journalism of his son, Mamoudou Babila Keita,” said Moussa Ngom, CPJ’s Francophone Africa representative. “Guinean authorities must ensure that Adama Keita is reunited with his family and allow the media to operate freely.”

In a Facebook post, Babila Keita said that his father’s abduction was “clearly linked to my investigations, denunciations and my stance on the governance of the military transition in Guinea.”

On October 1, the Nzérékoré prosecutor ordered an investigation “to identify and arrest the perpetrators, co-perpetrators, and accomplices” of Adama Keita’s abduction.

Babila Keita said he fled Guinea in July 2024 after unidentified men, some of them armed and in military uniform attempted to kidnap him. In May of that year, the media regulator suspended him and his outlet, Inquisiteur, for six months after a complaint by a former minister. Babila Keita remains active on Facebook and YouTube.

Media freedom has declined in the West African nation since 2021, when the military took power in a coup, with numerous outlets banned and journalists arrested.

Another journalist, Habib Marouane Camara, was abducted by men in military uniform in December 2024. His whereabouts remain unknown.

Elections are planned for December 2025.

CPJ’s calls to request comment from the Ministry of Security and Civil Protection went unanswered.