The Diplomat in Spain

The Diplomat

Julio Obama Mefuman, an opponent of the regime of the President of Equatorial Guinea, Teodoro Obiang Nguema, with Spanish citizenship, has died in hospital in Bata, after several years as a prisoner in that country, sources from the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed yesterday.

Julio Obama Mefuman, 51, a member of the Movement for the Liberation of Equatorial Guinea III Republic (MLGE III R) was captured in South Sudan in November 2020 by the Equatoguinean government and imprisoned.

Obama’s party assured that he had died due to the torture to which he had been subjected and urged “strongly” the Spanish government to proceed “immediately” to break diplomatic relations with Equatorial Guinea and, likewise, the judicial authorities to proceed “with all the rigour of the criminal law against the perpetrators”.

The news of his death came a few days after the Central Court of Instruction number 5 of the Audiencia Nacional opened an investigation against the security forces of Equatorial Guinea, including a son of the president, for an alleged crime of kidnapping for terrorist purposes and torture of Obama and another Spanish citizen, Feliciano Efa.

The judicial investigation affects the Secretary of State of the Presidency and head of the country’s secret service abroad (and son of the president), Carmelo Ovono Obiang; the Minister of State, Nicolás Obama, and the Director General of Presidential Security, Isaac Ngema. Initial police reports suggest that the three were on board the presidential plane that flew Feliciano Efa and Julio Obama from South Sudan to Malabo.

These three high-ranking officials were allegedly present and participated in the torture to which the two Spanish nationals and two other Equatoguineans were subjected in prison, where they were held after being convicted of an alleged coup d’état in a trial without any guarantees, according to these reports.

The foreign ministry sources indicated that the Spanish Embassy in Malabo and the Consulate in Bata are doing everything possible to try to gather more information.