Letter from Imprisoned Cameroonian Journalist Tsi Conrad to Pope Leo XIV

Photojournalist Tsi Conrad remains unjustly detained in Cameroon. He is one of the cases that Freedom House is actively working on through its Free Them All: The Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners to secure his immediate and unconditional release.

Tsi recently wrote a letter to Pope Leo XIV from his cell in Kondengui Central Prison, describing his situation and asking for his support to secure his freedom.

Click here to view the original letter.

February 13, 2026

Your Holiness,

My name is Tsi Conrad and I am writing to you from a cramped cell in Kondengui Central Prison in Yaoundé, Cameroon. This has been my home for over nine years. I am a journalist, a filmmaker, a husband, a father to four beautiful children, and according to the Government of Cameroon, I am terrorist. But my only crime was pointing my camera at the truth.

In 2016, when lawyers and teachers in my home, the English-speaking regions of Cameroon, marched peacefully to demand their rights to our language, our culture, and our legal system, I documented it. When the military responded with bullets and brutality, I filmed it because I believed the world needed to see. For that, on December 8, 2016, I was arrested, beaten on the streets, tortured, and forced to sign a false confession. I was tried in military tribunal - a journalist, a civilian, judged by soldiers and sentenced to 15 years in prison. Amnesty International, Freedom House, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and even U.N. experts have called for the government to release me, but this demand has fallen on deaf ears.

My story is not unique. It is the story of my people - the Anglophone people of Cameroon. Millions of us have endured systemic persecution and humiliation for decades. The protests of 2016 were our cry for justice. The government's response was war. Today, my home is a land of ghost towns, of burned villages, of schools that have been silent for years. Nearly a million people have been displaced. Thousands are dead. This is the world's most neglected crisis, a catastrophe hidden in plain sight.

President Biya, who has ruled Cameroon since 1982, has no interest in finding a peaceful resolution to the Anglophone crisis. He has proven time and again that he only knows how to attack, provoke, imprison, and inflame. Last October, he secured an eighth term in office through a flawed election, leaving little hope for a free and democratic Cameroon.

I was very excited to see that you are considering a visit to Cameroon. As you know, we are a deeply religious country, and millions here look to you for guidance and inspiration. My faith in God is the one thing that eases the pain of being away from my wife and children for so long. As you discuss the potential visit with the Government of Cameroon, I beg you to use your uniquely powerful voice to stand up for me and the other political prisoners in Cameroon. In particular, I ask you to demand that the government release me and the other detained journalists - Amadou Vamoulké, Mancho Bibixy, and Thomas Awah Junior. The bible says that "the truth shall set you free." But when I and my fellow journalists spoke and documented the truth, we received lengthy prison sentences instead.

Please do not let our cries fade into silence. Please help me go home. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Tsi Conrad