Angola

(MISA/IFEX) – The government of Angola has proposed that the current Press Law of Angola be reviewed. On 5 November 1999, Information Minister Hendrik Vaal Neto said that a commission representing all sectors – specifically the independent print media – would be called on to look into the issue. **Updates IFEX alerts on the Marques […]

(MISA/IFEX) – MISA has confirmed that detained journalist Rafael Marques has not been charged in terms of the Angolan law. This corrects previous reports which said that he had been charged with defamation of the president and with offences falling under the Law of Crimes Against the State. However, the state is currently still pursuing […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Journalist Rafael Marques, who was arrested by police in Luanda on 16 October 1999, remains in detention despite the expiry of the fifteen-day period during which the state can legally detain him without bringing him to trial. **Updates IFEX alerts on the Marques case of 28 October, 22 October, 20 October, 19 October, […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 26 October 1999, the Angolan attorney general (A.G.) officially refused a bail application by detained journalist Rafael Marques. No further information is available on the reasons for the refusal, and according to Angolan law, Marques can be held in detention for fifteen days without being brought to trial. The authorities have also […]

(MISA/IFEX) – Journalist Rafael Marques, who was arrested at his home on 16 October 1999, remains in incommunicado detention in Luanda. Neither his lawyer or relatives have been allowed access to him since his detention and it is believed that he is on hunger strike. **Updates IFEX alerts of 20 October, 19 October and 18 […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – On 18 October 1999, CPJ expressed its deep concern over the arrest and continued detention of Rafael Marques, a freelance journalist who also represents the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa in Angola. **Updates IFEX alerts of 19 October and 18 October 1999** On 14 October, the Angolan police accused Marques of defamation […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On Saturday 16 October 1999, journalist Rafael Marques, who is also the coordinator of the Angolan office of the Open Society Initiative in Southern Africa, was arrested at dawn at his home in the capital Luanda by officers from the Department of National Criminal Investigations (DNIC). **Updates IFEX alert of 18 October 1999** […]

(HRW/IFEX) – The following is a 17 October 1999 Human Rights Watch press release: **For background on Tonet’s arrest and recent harassment of journalists, see IFEX alerts of 8 October, 4 October, 16 September, 14 September, 17 August, 13 August, 11 August and 10 August 1999** FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 17, 1999 Crackdown On Angola’s […]

(MISA/IFEX) – MISA has confirmed that “Folha 8” editor William Tonet was released on bail of 2.2 billion Kwanzas Reajustados (US$500) by the police’s Criminal Investigation Department (DNIC) on 4 October 1999. Tonet embarked on a hunger strike shortly after his arrest in the early hours of 2 October for “speculation and fiscal evasion”. **Updates […]

(MISA/IFEX) – The editor of the independent bi-weekly “Folha 8”, William Tonet, was arrested at his home on Saturday 2 October 1999. Early on 4 October, Tonet’s lawyer was able to visit him in jail, but was unable to secure his release. Tonet was arrested at 4 a.m. (local time) on the morning of 2 […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 23 September 1999, Angolan Attorney General (AG) Domingos Culolo issued a statement recognising “the value and benefit of the press in a democratic state” and their role in “the permanent fight against all forms of illegalities in general and crime in particular.” Culolo said that the law must be placed between the […]

(MISA/IFEX) – The director of the biweekly “Folha 8”, William Tonet, has been barred from leaving the country, placing his newspaper in financial jeopardy as a consequence. **Updates IFEX alerts of 14 September, 17 August, 13 August, 11 August and 10 August 1999** Tonet said that on 10 September 1999 his name had been listed […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On 6 September 1999, the director of the bi-weekly “Folha 8”, William Tonet, was called in for questioning by agents of the Selective Crimes Section at the Criminal Investigation Police Department (DNIC) in Luanda. The interrogation was in connection with an article published in “Folha 8” several weeks ago about the 9 August […]

(MISA/IFEX) – On Tuesday 31 August 1999, Mauricio Cristovao, a young journalist working or Radio 5, the sports channel on the government-owned Radio Nacional de Angola, was gunned down in the capital, Luanda. According to Radio Nacional, twenty-four year-old Cristovao was shot three times, once in the head and twice in the chest by unknown […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Interior Minister Fernando Dias Dos Santos, RSF protested the detention of Isaias Soares, a Voice of America (VOA) correspondent in Malanje. Recalling Angola’s international commitments, Robert Ménard, the organisation’s secretary-general, called for the journalist’s “immediate release” and asked that “private radio stations be entitled to continue broadcasting their news […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – CPJ has once again protested the government’s brutal repression of the Angolan press. **Updates IFEX alerts of 13 August, 11 August and 10 August 1999** On 9 August 1999, four plainclothes police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department (DNIC) raided the studios of Radio Ecclesia, a Roman Catholic FM station in Luanda, while […]