Equatorial Guinea

Melanio Nkogo and Ruben Bacale from Equatorial Guinea’s only privately-owned TV channel, were arbitrarily detained, after interviewing a recently-fired judge.

Cartoonist Ramón Nsé Esono Ebalé’s drawings and his blog feature critical commentary on President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo and the Equatoguinean government, and have been blocked by authorities.

The police detained activists Enrique Asumu and Alfredo Okenve on April 17, 2017, and have exceeded the 72-hour period that Equatorial Guinean law permits them to detain a person without charge.

The government of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo should immediately cease its suppression of independent voices ahead of presidential elections, scheduled for April 24, a group of human rights and democracy organisations says.

Equatorial Guinea has been chosen to host the next Africa Cup of Nations football tournament in 2015. President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Basogo continues to appear at international events without ever being challenged over the appalling way he has crushed freedom of information in his country.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the government’s blocking of access to Facebook and certain opposition websites since 12 May. The targets include the site of Convergence For Social Democracy, which is fielding candidates for the 26 May parliamentary and municipal elections.

Manuel Nzé Nsongo fell ill just a few hours after attending a working lunch with the information, press and radio minister; he died two days later. Nsongo founded two newspapers, El Tiempo and La Opinión, and had planned to set up an independent radio station, Radio Solidaridad.

Daniel Darío Martínez Ayécaba, the head of the opposition Unión Popular party, was arrested without a warrant as he prepared to leave for a conference hosted by an opposition group based in Spain. Since November 2011, the government has detained at least four high-profile members of the country’s political opposition.

Fabián Nsue Nguema has not been seen since he went to Black Beach prison in Malabo on the afternoon of October 22 to try to see a client.

The government has a long-established pattern of pursuing its political opponents in the courts and later granting pardons to some of those convicted.

Dr. Wenceslao Mansogo Alo was transferred on 18 May without explanation to a filthy, isolated cell in Bata central prison.

Mansogo’s prosecution was clearly opportunistic, designed to remove a vocal opponent from the political arena, and not supported by the facts of the incident in question, said Human Rights Watch.

Government censorship extends to coverage of any political unrest abroad.

An 8 March decision by the executive board to change the controversial award’s name and press UNESCO’s Director General Irina Bokova to implement it was due to be formally adopted in a plenary session.