(MISA/IFEX) – Angolan journalist Rafael Marques has informed MISA that he and his lawyer, Joao Faria, were able to visit detained journalist Andre Domingos Mussamo. The journalist has been in jail in the Cuanza Norte provincial capital, N’Dalatando, for sixty-three days. Mussamo is reported to be in good spirits, though his health condition is sensitive […]
(MISA/IFEX) – Angolan journalist Rafael Marques has informed MISA that he and his lawyer, Joao Faria, were able to visit detained journalist Andre Domingos Mussamo. The journalist has been in jail in the Cuanza Norte provincial capital, N’Dalatando, for sixty-three days.
Mussamo is reported to be in good spirits, though his health condition is sensitive as he was hit by a car a few months ago. Mussamo has still not been formerly charged, and the provincial attorney general has officially extended the journalist’s “preventative detention” for more than forty-five days. According to Angolan law, a person can be held in preventative detention for no longer than forty-five days.
Marques informed MISA that in the meantime, authorities have confiscated Mussamo’s home telephone, removed the cables, and taken his motorbike.
Meanwhile, other journalists based in N’Dalantando have also been subjected to harassment by authorities. One journalist, Isidore Natalicio, is reported to be under extreme pressure because the authorities want to evict him from his house in retaliation for his dispatches to the “Voice of America” and, they suspect, to independent newspapers. Natalicio is an official correspondent for the state-owned “Jornal de Angola”.
BACKGROUND:
Mussamo, editor-in-chief of the Cuanza Norte provincial branch of the Angolan National Radio, was detained on 2 December 1999. He is also a correspondent for the independent bi-weekly “Folha 8”.
The journalist is accused of stealing documents from the provincial government headquarters, and violating state secrets because of an unpublished article that made reference to a letter from the provincial governor to President Eduardo Dos Santos.
According to MISA sources, Mussamo left the article in one of his books at work, after deciding not to send it for publication. A member of the security services apparently searched his papers and then found the article, which was written in September.
MISA sources further report that Mussamo was imprisoned two days after the provincial governor, Manuel Pedro Pacavira, had summoned an investigator from the police’s criminal investigation department (DNIC) in Luanda to examine a pretext for Mussamo’s arrest. The investigator apparently found none. Infuriated, the governor summoned the deputy head of the provincial DNIC to arrest the journalist, but he also declined citing the lack of evidence to arrest the journalist. The governor finally ordered the second commander of the police to carry out his orders.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to authorities:
Appeals To
Jose Eduardo dos Santos
President of the Republic
Tel: + 244 2 353 877 / 354 545 / 391 691
Fax: + 244 2 331 898 / 331 885
Fernando da Piedade dias dos Santos
Minister of the Interior
Tel: + 244 2 391 079 / 391 049
Fax: + 244 2 321 034
Domingos Culolo
Attorney General
Tel: 244 2 333 171 / 337 0065 / 391 733
Fax: (244-2) 333 172
Manuel Pedro Pacavira
Governor of Cuanza Norte Province
Tel: + 244 35 80 100 / 80 025 / 80 148 / 80 059
Provincial Commander of Police
Cuanza Norte Province
Tel: + 244 35 80 111 / 80 030
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
