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backURGENT ACTION REQUEST RE RAFAEL MARQUES / ICCAF
Exp.: Jim Kirkwood, INTERNET:kirkwood@web.net
A: FRIENDS OF ANGOLA, iccaf@web.net
Date: 20/10/99 21:16
RE : URGENT ACTION REQUEST RE RAFAEL MARQUES
URGENT FOR TODAY, PLEASE.Dear friends of Angola :
Rafael Marques, author, journalist, lead contact for the Angolan group for Reconciliation and peace,(GARP), was arrested last Saturday October 16th. He was accused of defaming the president by calling him a dictator in an article he had written. We believe it is because of his key role in the `manifesto for peace' Of the GARP, which has been collecting signatures on a petition (i sent this to you in august), calling on the opposing forces to solve their fight by dialogue , to call a ceasefire and to have peace corridors for Humanitarian assistance to feed the more than 1 million displaced people.
We have this on information from the UN and from our own sources, and I enclose some of that info at the end of this appeal.
Marques is being held incommunicado, though we believe he is on a hunger Strike; this would be the 4th day probably.
At this point the government prefers war and demands loyalty to that policy. Numerous journalists, broadcasters and other have been harassed and/or Detained in the 3/4 months since GARP was launched.
Marques is important in his own right, but very symbolic now for the growing peace movement. We must protest this arrest and demand that he be released or charged and that lawyers and family will have access to him.
Therefore , the Angola development network, Update Angola, and the Inter-Church Coalition on Africa, in consultation with Angolan contacts and NGO’s in our network here issue this
****APPEAL TO YOU FOR URGENT ACTION. PLEASE DO IT TODAY. ******
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
from Daniel Ntoni Nzinga on Tuesday 19th (note #7 re Marques)
One sad news. Our colleague Rafael Marques was arrested on Saturday by the Criminal Investigation Unit of the National Police. He has not been seen by anybody, not even his mother and received no food from the relatives. He is not eating as well, for many reason... He was questioned during the week, almost everyday and was arrested on Saturday early in the morning and charged the same day. The charge is about his articles, especially the one of July this year in which he made remarks about the President. This must have been triggered by his recent article of last week about the arrest of his friend and colleague William Tonet, in which he criticized very strongly the behaviour of the security forces (police) while praising Tonet. No matter the reasons, we believe that there are many irregularities in the procedures which do not justify the manner of his arrest.
D. Ntoni-Nzinga
Subject: ANGOLA: Journalist detained [19991018]
ANGOLA: Journalist detained
LUANDA, 18 October (IRIN) - A journalist charged with defaming Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos was detained by police at the weekend and was being held incommunicado, the Media Institute of Southern Africa reported on Monday.
In a statement expressing concern at the action, it said 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 on Saturday by officers of the Department of National Criminal Investigations (DNIC).
"Marques was being held at Luanda's Labortório prison. According to information received from Human Rights Watch, Marques has been refused access to his lawyer and has gone on hunger strike in protest. By this morning (October 18) Marques' lawyer had still been able to gain access to him," it said. "Marques was charged on October 14 with defaming President dos Santos, for allegedly having referred to him as a dictator in a July 3, 1999 article published in 'Folha 8'."
Two weeks ago, the newspaper's publisher and editor, William Tonet, was also briefly detained by police.
[ENDS]
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Further news: Africa News Online: Angola
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