Amnesty International urged Angola authorities to immediately release Angolan TikToker Ana da Silva Miguel, also known as Neth Nahara, on Tuesday. Amnesty International said Neth Nahara was arbitrarily detained and condemned Neth Nahara’s conviction of committing an outrage against the state, its symbols and bodies under article 333 of Angola’s penal code as absurd. Amnesty International also stated that her sentence was extended from six months to two years on a flawed appeals process.
Neth Nahara was arrested on August 13, 2023, in Luanda, Angola after she criticized Angolan President João Lourenço in a live TikTok video. Angola’s first-stage court sentenced her to six months imprisonment and fined her one million Kwanza ($1,200) the next day for committing an outrage against the state. Angola’s second-stage court then extended her sentence to two years on September 27, 2023, on a public prosecutor’s appeal. Neth Nahara’s lawyers were not permitted to counter-appeal the public prosecutor’s appeal as legally prescribed. The court also did not respond to Neth Nahara’s lawyers’ flawed process complaint.
Amnesty International condemned Neth Nahara’s detention. The organization said:
Neth Nahara should never have been locked up in the first place … The Angolan authorities are abusing the penal code to try to silence peaceful dissent. Indeed, Angola’s constitution explicitly protects free expression, which includes voicing political views on social media.
Amnesty International said that Neth Nahara was denied her daily HIV medication for eight months during her imprisonment, and called upon Angolan authorities to release four other individuals who have been allegedly arbitrarily detained for more than 10 months over exercising their rights to protest and expression.
Angola’s penal code went into effect on February 10, 2021. It was approved by the Angolan parliament in 2019 but was not signed into effect by Lourenço until November 2020. It was the first revision of the penal code since Angola gained independence from Portugal in 1975. Amnesty International stated, “Angolan authorities have repeatedly used article 333 of the penal code to justify arbitrary detention of critics.” Amnesty International also previously urged Angolan Minister of Justice and Human Rights Marcy Cláudio Lopes on December 13, 2023, to immediately release four other activists who were arrested on September 16, 2023, before participating in a demonstration in Luanda. They were subsequently sentenced to two years and five months in prison on September 19, 2023, for disobeying and resisting orders although no evidence was presented in court.
Relatedly, a report from Human Rights Watch on August 7, 2023, stated that Angolan authorities unjustly killed more than 12 people since January 2023, in addition to perpetrating other severe human rights violations. Human Rights Watch encouraged the government to develop standards for police conduct and monitoring to ensure that the principles of proportionality about the use of force are properly reflected in police activities. It also urged international organizations to put pressure on Angola to hold human rights violators accountable. According to a US report on human rights practices, Angolans suffered from arbitrary arrests and executions, degrading punishment and torture by government officials and denials of fair public trials in 2022.
