Incoming Princeton visiting Professor released by Cameroon government
The award-winning novelist critical of the Central African nation was jailed for “inciting violence in a Facebook post”
Patice Nganang, a novelist and an incoming visiting Princeton professor critical of the Cameroon government will return to the United States today after detained by the Central African nation for nearly a month.
“We are pleased that he has been released,” Assistant Vice President Daniel Day said in a statement to The Tab.
“We look forward to having him on campus this spring as a visiting professor in the Humanities Council and Old Dominion Fellow in French and Italian,” he added.
According to the Associated Press, Nganang, 37, has dual citizenship in Cameroon and the United States. In early December, Nganang was en route to visit his wife and daughter in Zimbabwe when he was detained at an airport in Cameroon’s capital. One day before, Nganang had penned a critical editorial for a weekly news magazine condemning Cameroon authorities for their treatment of English-speaking minorities. Dozens of protestors supporting independence for Anglophone regions have been killed or arrested.
After arresting the essayist, Cameroon authorities accused Nganang of “inciting violence in a Facebook post” and “insulting constitutional bodies.” Nganang was scheduled for a trial on January 19th. However, a Cameroon court announced Wednesday that Nganang would be let go and his charges dropped.
However, Nganang has been forbidden from returning to Cameroon, his lawyer said in a statement.
Nganang will join his family in New Jersey on Friday. He is currently professor at Stony Brook University.