Pressure on Angola to drop prosecution of author who exposed army’s links to blood-diamond criminals
London (June 3, 2015) - President Jose Eduardo dos Santos is under growing pressure to tell his country’s judges to stop the prosecution of the award-winning investigative journalist Rafael Marques de Morais who has infuriated the authorities in Luanda by exposing the Angolan army’s links with the illicit blood diamonds “industry.”
Last week de Morais was given a six month suspended sentence for two years after a trial in which he faced criminal defamation over his sensational book published in Portugal, Italy and the United Kingdom – “Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola.”
It in the human rights activist and investigative reporter highlighted links between Angola’s military rulers and the illicit trade.
The trial judge ordered him to remove all copies of his book wherever available and also to remove any reference from it online.
In an interview with “The Independent” (June 3, 2015) from his home in Angola, de Morais asked: “How on earth am I supposed to do that? The book was published four years ago in another country (Portugal). It’s an absurd ruling. If I don’t comply the state can lock me up anytime they like over the next two years.”
And despite his conviction, de Morais said that he would not back down. Instead he has lodged papers in Luanda appealing against the sentence which is an effective gagging /intimidation order, say journalists in Britain and Angola.
He told the paper’s Paul Gallagher: “I will stay here and fight them all the way to the very end. This is a beautiful country and continent and the good people of Africa must not leave so the bad guys, the evil doers, keep power and continue to abuse the people.”
This week, leading figures in the media, the theatre, industry and even the jewellers Tiffany and Company sent a petition to the Angolan Embassy in London demanding that the Angolan Government drops the prosecution of the award-winning journalist.
The petition was handed in by Jodie Ginsberg, Index and Censorship chief executive, who said: “Rafael is a courageous journalist, working with little support to expose corruption in Angola. This absurd trial is meant to stop him from speaking out. We want to make sure that does not happen.”
In his book, de Morais reported cases of murder, forced displacement of communities and the intimidation of those living in the diamond-mining areas of Angola’s Lunda region.
Two international figures have lent their support to the petition - Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia and the award winning film- maker Steve McQueen.
Angola is one of the most corrupt countries in the world
In 2004, Human Rights Watch found the government could not account for US$4 billion spent between 1997 and 2002
Transparency International ranked Angola 142 out of 163 countries in the Corruption Perception Index just after Venezuela and before the Republic of the Congo with a 2.2 rating.
