Angola: Urgent Healthcare Needed For Jailed Activist

Tanaice Neutro, 34, is an activist and artist who uses kuduro, a type of Angolan music, to express his views about social issues such as poverty, inequality, corruption and bad governance. One of his songs is called “protest”, where he describes the challenges people in Angola are facing and the reasons behind the growing number of young people protesting.

Tanaice Neutro was diagnosed with haemorrhoids in 2020. In 2021, he travelled to Namibia to see a specialist who told him surgery was required. He was due to go back to Namibia for the surgery when he was arrested. He is under extreme pain due to the untreated haemorrhoids, has experienced severe fever and has been unable to release his bowels on several occasions due to the pain. He was transferred to the prison hospital for his headaches, but the prison lacks the necessary facilities to carry out the surgery he requires.

It remains unclear why Tanaice Neutro has not been released as ordered by the court in October 2022. The continued detention despite a court order mandating his release, in addition to the fact that the charges stem solely from the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression, render his detention arbitrary.

Amnesty International is concerned with the growing number of activists and human rights defenders being targeted by Angolan authorities for freely expressing their opinions, including online, which is a clear violation of their right to freedom of expression.