restricting access to the internet and to social media in 2020. Access to the main social networks remained disrupted since 24 November, with no official explanation from the authorities. Access to social networks and news websites was previously disrupted from 17 May during anti-government protests, and restored around a week later. On 30 November, Ousmane Gaoual Diallo, minister of post, telecommunications and digital economy, stated that “the internet is not a right”. He had acknowledged the previous disruption to the internet, but attributed it to a technical problem with an undersea cable. The news website Guineematin.com was inaccessible from 15 August to 5 November, with no reason given. The High Authority of Communication wrote to Canal + Guinée on 6 and 9 December to ask them to stop broadcasting Djoma FM and TV, Espace FM and TV and Évasion FM and TV for “national security reasons”. Another distributor, StarTimes, announced the withdrawal of Djoma TV, Espace TV and Évasion TV for the same reasons. FREEDOM OF PEACEFUL ASSEMBLY A blanket ban on all political gatherings in Guinea remained in place since May 2022. In Conakry, however, although gatherings called by the opposition Living Forces of Guinea coalition were prohibited, several rallies in support of the head of state were allowed to go ahead. On 1 June, the Kankan court of first instance sentenced two women to six months’ imprisonment – four months suspended – and a fine of GNF 1 million (around EUR 110) each, and seven women to a six months’ suspended sentence and a fine of GNF 500,000 (around EUR 55). All nine were convicted of “criminal participation in an assembly”, after marching on 24 May to demand the return to power of former president Alpha Condé. Following violent protests on the night of 27-28 March in Kankan against the lack of electricity, during which an image of the president was burnt, on 13 April the city’s 188 court of first instance sentenced 15 people to imprisonment of between four and 18 months, including on charges of unauthorized assembly. UNLAWFUL KILLINGS According to civil society organizations, media and political parties, since 5 September 2021 at least 37 people had been killed by defence and security forces during protests. One person was killed in Wonkifong, Kindia region on 16 April during an anti-drugs operation by the security forces. Several people were wounded in Boffa, Boké region on 19 September when the military allegedly shot at people who had blocked roads to protest against the lack of electricity. On 27 March, the Dixinn court of first instance in Conakry sentenced a senior officer of the gendarmerie to 10 years’ imprisonment and ordered him to pay GNF 100 million (around EUR 11,000) in damages for the murder of a 19-year-old man on 1 June 2022 in Hamdallaye, Conakry during a demonstration against the increase in the price of petrol. ARBITRARY ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS Oumar Sylla and Ibrahima Diallo of the National Front for the Defence of the Constitution and Saikou Yaya Barry of the Union of Republican Forces were provisionally released on 10 May after more than 10 months’ arbitrary detention. They had been accused of “criminal participation in an assembly, complicity in the destruction of public and private buildings, intentional assault and battery, arson and looting” for mobilizing to demand the restoration of the constitutional order. On 13 June, the Dixinn court of first instance in Conakry acquitted Oumar Sylla and Ibrahima Diallo. On 16 October, 13 journalists were violently and arbitrarily arrested in Kaloum, Conakry, taken to the central police station and then indicted at the court of first instance. They had been taking part in a peaceful demonstration organized by the Guinean Union of Press Professionals to demand that The State of the World’s Human Rights