The journalist, Mimi Mefo Takambo, who heads the English news desk at the privately owned Equinoxe Television and Radio was arrested on November 7 on charges of "publishing and propagating information that infringed on the territorial integrity of the Republic of Cameroon.”

This was as a result of her post on social media alleging that the military was behind the death of an American missionary.

Reports indicated that the case was dropped on the orders of President Paul Biya.

Within the last two years, some Anglophone areas have suffered disturbances in the majority French-speaking country making some English-speaking groups complaining of discrimination hence pushing for a separate state.

Mimi had posted on her Twitter account that US missionary Charles Trumann Wesco was shot dead by soldiers. The missionary was killed in October, near Bamenda, in the north-west, one of two Anglophone regions.

Her lawyer said that his client had also posted the military's account - that he had been killed by Anglophone separatists.

An army spokesman said the President had decided to stop the prosecution — by a military tribunal — as "a gesture of magnanimity".

Mimi was freed on November 10, and charges withdrawn on Monday November 12, 2018. Some local and international media campaign groups had called for her release.

Before her arrest, Mimi had complained of receiving several threats over her reporting of unrest in English-speaking regions.