Hundreds of supporters of Chadian opposition leader Succes Masra gathered in the capital N'Djamena on Wednesday to demand his release after nearly a year in custody. Members of Les Transformateurs (Transformers), Chad's largest opposition party, rallied at party headquarters on its eighth anniversary, carrying signs and calling for freedom for Masra, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison last August after being convicted of hate speech and inciting intercommunal violence. The protest underscores deepening tensions between the government of President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno and the opposition, with party officials also calling for the release of other recently arrested activists from a separate opposition movement.