Michel Biem Tong
Michel Biem Tong is a Cameroonian independent journalist and human rights defender whose work is mainly focused in the Anglophone region in Cameroon. He was born in 1985 and holds a master degree in political science from Yaoundé II University. He was a writer for Hurinews.com, a Cameroonian news site that focused on human rights issues.
Tong has been working as an independent journalist since 2011. His research and reporting focuses on human rights violations happening in Cameroon’s Anglophone region. He also criticized the dictatorship in Cameroon through his YouTube page. His articles have appeared in various publications including Cameroonweb.
Following his reporting during the 2018 presidential elections, Tong was arrested and detained in the Kondengui Central Prison in Yaoundé where he developed health problems. On November 15 of the same year, Tong was charged with apologizing for terrorism, false declarations, and outrage to the head of state. A month later, he was released as part of dropped charges by President Paul Biya releasing the 289 prisoners who had been arrested and held in Military Tribunals in relation to the ongoing crisis.
In 2020, he was welcomed as an ICORN writer in residence by the Norwegian city of Kristiansand. He is currently working on several writing projects regarding the conflict in Anglophone Cameroon and plans to launch a new site and TV web channel called Frihet Afrika focused on issues of democracy, governance and human rights in Africa and abroad.
To learn more about his work, you can follow him on Youtube, Facebook or on Twitter at @Michel61B.