Association denounces disappearance of Rwandan journalist exiled in Mozambique – Lusa report

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Association denounces disappearance of Rwandan journalist exiled in Mozambique – Lusa report

5:32 CAT | 31 May 2021

File photo: Twitter

The Association of Rwandan Refugees in Mozambique on Friday denounced the disappearance, since Sunday, of a Rwandan citizen, journalist Cassien Ntamuhanga, who was lived in exile in Mozambique, on the island of Inhaca, Maputo province.

Cassien was taken “by eight unknown individuals who presented themselves as officers of Police of the Republic of Mozambique (PRM)”, in a group which included another Rwandan citizen “who spoke in the same local language as the target,” the spokesman of the association, Cleophas Habiyareme, told Lusa, giving voice to a position also expressed in a statement.

The PRM demarcated itself from any detention and clarified that there is no record of any complaints about the disappearance or abduction of a foreigner.

“There is no record of any operation for the arrest of Rwandan citizens, nor do we record any complaints,” Hilário Lole, a spokesman for the National Criminal Investigation Service (SERNIC), told Lusa.

Cleophas Habiyareme further detailed that a complaint was lodged with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Maputo.

Ntamuhanga Cassien, 37, is a former journalist and director of Christian radio Amazing Grace, in Kigali (Rwandan capital), now working as a trader in Mozambique.

He claimed to be a victim of political persecution like other critics of President Paulo Kagame’s regime.

He escaped from prison in Rwanda in 2017, after being sentenced in 2015 to 25 years in prison for conspiracy against the state,complicity to terrorist acts and to murder, a sentence at the time contested by human rights organisations.

In their statement, the Association of Rwandan Refugees in Mozambique expressed concern over alleged cases of arbitrary arrests of Rwandan citizens in Mozambique.

“We have come to request the urgent intervention of the Government of Mozambique, as a democratic state, of civil society organisations and other entities that watch over human rights”, since “a refugee has the right to be protected”.

Ntamuhanga, Ndayizera Sentenced in ‘Dynamite Terror’ Trial https://t.co/Kgkw8ArJnI

— NTIRENGANYA Emmanuel (@EmNtirenganya) May 7, 2021

Fugitive Cassien Ntamuhanga may soon be paraded.

Profile: meet Cassien Ntamuhanga, the man that fires with his mouth https://t.co/OuRDaHcAje via @virungapost pic.twitter.com/I4Y7ebyiKW

— Princess from North 🕷️ (@Princess_North1) May 24, 2021

Rwanda’s leader since 1994, Kagame is credited with developing the country after that year’s Tutsi genocide, but the is also accused of limiting freedom of expression and repressing opposition.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Rwandan authorities in late March of limiting the population using the Internet to express themselves in the country, after restricting freedom of expression in the media.

The human rights organisation says at least eight people who cover or comment on the news, including the impact of Covid-19 containment measures on the poorest population, have been threatened, arrested or prosecuted in the past year, according to a report by Agence France Press.

“Rwanda’s track record of intolerance and abusive reprisals against critics raises serious questions regarding the safety of a new generation of bloggers and commentators,” said Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch. .

The restriction of freedoms has also been denounced and condemned by other organisations such as Reporters without Borders and the European Union (EU).

The genocide in Rwanda was responsible for the deaths of more than 800,000 people, mainly from the Tutsi minority, between April and July 1994.

Macron’s visit came three days after a Rwandan dissident journalist, living as a refugee in Mozambique, was abducted on Inhaca Island – prompting fears he will be extradited to Rwanda https://t.co/bCTnfTvPpE

— Tom Bowker (@TomBowk) May 28, 2021

Source: Lusa