Three activists released after arrest on Wednesday

Three Cameroonian activists for political change in Cameroon arrested on Wednesday were released while five others, and a journalist, remain in custody till Friday, one of the supporters of their organization told AFP.

On Wednesday, two members of Dynamic Citizens (Dynamique citoyenne), a Cameroonian coalition of a hundred associations, were arrested while participating in a meeting. The third was also arrested on the same day. The three "were released on Wednesday night," said Jean-Bosco Talla, a supporter of Dynamic Citizens on Thursday.

Jean-Baptiste Sipa, a Journalist, whose association is a member of Dynamic citizens, was among those freed.

Five other members of Dynamic Citizens, including his spokesman, Jean-Marc Bikoko, a well-known trade unionist and journalist, all arrested on Tuesday "are still being held," reported Mr. Talla.

"They were placed under the administrative detention order for 15 days renewable," he added. He said the anti-terrorist law adopted by Cameroon was applied to them. The six were arrested on Tuesday while attending a meeting on political change in Cameroon.

In a statement, the Social Democratic Front (SDF), the main opposition party denounced the arrests, describing them as "grave abuse of authority." The party condemned "in the strongest terms the cowardly character, barbaric and retrograde of these arbitrary arrests that tarnish the image already considerably tarnished of our country that claims to be a state of law." He demanded "the immediate and unconditional release" of militants.

"They were arrested because they did not respect the law", Issa Bakary Tchiroma, government spokesman and communications minister told AFP on Wednesday.

Dynamic Citizens adhere to an initiative named "Turn the Page", which campaigns for a political change in Cameroon in particular.