A court in Ivory Coast has sentenced a nurse to three years in prison for a social media post suggesting that Africa would have been better off if President Alassane Ouattara had never been born. The ruling comes just months ahead of the country’s presidential election, prompting concerns from the opposition about growing efforts to suppress dissent.
Tokpa Flan Japhet, aged 43, was convicted on July 18 and ordered to pay a fine of $8,500, according to a statement from Abidjan’s public prosecutor Oumar Braman Kone. The nurse had posted on Facebook that Africa “would have been saved” if President Ouattara’s mother had “had an abortion”.
Despite Japhet’s appeal for clemency and expression of remorse, the court upheld the charges, with the prosecutor insisting that “neither repentance… nor a request for forgiveness has any effect on the reality of the offences”.
This conviction follows the arrest of six youth leaders from the main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Ivory Coast (PDCI), in June. They were detained over a social media call to rally opposition against the current government.
The crackdown has further fuelled allegations from opposition parties that President Ouattara’s administration is seeking to stifle political expression in the lead-up to the October 25 presidential election. The PDCI’s leader, Tidjane Thiam, is one of several high-profile political figures barred from standing in the upcoming poll.
In a separate incident, another man named Moussa Diakate was arrested for publishing a video online in which he allegedly issued death threats against political supporters.
Ivory Coast, once regarded as a pillar of stability in West Africa, has experienced repeated political unrest since its first military coup in 1999. The most deadly episode followed the 2010 presidential election, when then-incumbent Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede power to Ouattara, triggering a conflict that left approximately 3,000 people dead.
President Ouattara, now 83, has yet to formally declare his intention to seek a fourth term, though his party has already nominated him as its candidate.
