Rafael Marques de Morais. Alex Brenner for Index on Censorship. All rights reserved.Mass graves of miners who were buried alive, women with their eyes and genitals cut out of their bodies: these stories were just part of the exposé into crimes surrounding the Angola diamond industry that journalist Rafael Marques de Morais has tried to bring to world attention. Yet after an absurd defamation trial, during which his key witnesses were not allowed to give evidence, Marques has now been hit with a sentence that appears to be trying to silence him.
Marques’ case is certainly out of the ordinary. A lone warrior battling against the system and operating an anti-corruption news site from his kitchen in Luanda, he is currently working on his appeal after receiving a six-month suspended sentence on 28 May. The injustice of this unexpected conviction, which came days after the court had indicated charges had been dropped, has been reported on by a scattering of journalists around the world. But more needs to be done.
Index on Censorship has called for the Angolan government to drop all charges against Marques, and has sent an open letter to Angolan President José Eduardo Dos Santos. Signatories range from Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, author Neil Gaiman and technology entrepreneur Martha Lane Fox, to those who have experienced censorship themselves, including Syrian political cartoonist Ali Ferzat and Azerbaijani journalist Idrak Abbasov.
