In December 2013, the Office of the Attorney General in Maputo opened a criminal case against Mozambican economist Professor Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco, after he expressed strong criticism of the President of Mozambique in a public Facebook post. The law of Crimes Against State Security has been invoked.

Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco is a well-known Mozambican academic whose work on the country’s economic transition and extractive industries is internationally respected. He is a Professor of Economics at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, a Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and a founding member of IESE (the Institute of Economic and Social Studies) in Maputo.

In May 2014, IESE, of which Castel-Branco is a former director, was given a peremptory eviction order from the premises it has rented since 2007. The ownership of the building has recently been transferred to a State Agency.

IESE is one of the leading independent research centres in Mozambique. Research supported or conducted by IESE has contributed to academic and policy debates about poverty reduction, democratic governance and Mozambique's developmental challenges. Since its foundation, IESE has been committed to supporting young Mozambican researchers and advancing world class Mozambican scholarship as well as hosting scholars from around the world interested in the study of Mozambique.

As academics and researchers we deplore any and all measures curtailing academic freedom in Mozambique and call on all parties to defend the right to debate and dissent.

We appeal to the Attorney General to protect fundamental civil liberties including freedom of expression, a key part of the democratic process that needs to be enhanced and consolidated in Mozambique.  

 

Defesa da liberdade de expressão e da liberdade académica em Moçambique

Em Dezembro de 2013, A Procuradoria-Geral da República em Maputo abriu um processo crime contra o economista moçambicano Professor Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco, por este ter expresso fortes críticas ao Presidente de Moçambique, num endereço público do facebook. Foi invocada a Lei de Crimes contra a Segurança do Estado.

Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco é um reconhecido acadêmico Moçambicano, cujo trabalho sobre a transição económica do país e sobre as indústrias extractivas  é conhecido internacionalmente. Ele é professor de Economia na Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, em Maputo, investigador associado na SOAS, Universidade de Londres, e um dos membros fundadores do IESE (Instituto de Estudos Económicos e Sociais), em Maputo.

Em Maio de 2014, o IESE, de que Castel-Branco é ex-diretor, recebeu uma ordem de despejo peremptória das instalações que aluga desde 2007. A propriedade do edifício foi recentemente transferida para uma agência estatal.

O IESE é um dos principais centros de pesquisa independente de Moçambique. A pesquisa financiada ou conduzida pelo IESE tem contribuído para debates académicos e políticos sobre a redução da pobreza, a governação democrática e os desafios de desenvolvimento em Moçambique. Desde a sua fundação, o IESE empenhou-se em apoiar jovens pesquisadores moçambicanos, bem como receber estudantes de todo o mundo interessados no estudo de Moçambique.

Como académicos e pesquisadores, deploramos todas e quaisquer medidas que limitem a liberdade académica em Moçambique e apelamos a todas as partes para defender o direito ao debate e ao dissenso.

Apelamos ao Procurador-Geral para proteger as liberdades civis fundamentais, incluindo a liberdade de expressão, um pilar fundamental do processo democrático que precisa de ser reforçado e consolidado em Moçambique.

 

Yussuf Adam, Departamento de História, Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo

Jocelyn Alexander, University of Oxford

Ana Cristina Alves, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Riccardo Bellofiore, Department of Economics, University of Bergamo, Italy

Nancy Bermeo, Nuffield College, University of Oxford

David Birmingham, School of History, University of Kent

Saturnino Borras, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Rotterdam

Lars Buur, Institute for Society and Globalization. Roskilde University

Ray Bush, POLIS, University of Leeds

Lídia Cabral, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Michel Cahen, CNRS "Les Afriques dans le monde" Center, Institute for Political Studies, Bordeaux

Cláudia Castelo, Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia, Universidade de Lisboa

Blessings Chinsinga, Department of Political and Administrative Studies, University of Malawi

Christopher Cramer, Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London

Kenneth Creamer, School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand

Jean-Pierre Olivier de Sardan, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (France), Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (France), LASDEL (Niger)

Elma Doeleman, Polytechnic of Namibia, Windhoek

Gary Dymski, Business School, University of Leeds

Trevor Evans, Berlin School of Economics and Law

Tomaso Ferrando, Sciences Po Law School, Paris

Ben Fine, Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London

Jennifer Franco, Transnational Institute, Amsterdam

Sayaka Funada-Classen, Graduate School of Tokyo University of Foreign Studies

James K. Galbraith, LBJ School of Public Affairs, University of Texas at Austin

Yao Graham, Third World Network-Africa, Accra

Amanda J Hammar, Centre for African Studies, University of Copenhagen

Joseph Hanlon, The Open University

Allen Isaacman, Department of History, University of Minnesota

Paolo Israel, History Department, University of the Western Cape

Deborah Johnston, Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London

Helene Maria Kyed, Danish Institute for International Studies, Denmark

Kazimierz Laski, Johannes Kepler University of Linz and the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies

Francisco Louçã, ISEG, Instituto Superior de Economia e Gestão, University of Lisbon

Maureen Mackintosh, Economics Department, The Open University

Dale T. McKinley, Independent writer, researcher and lecturer, Johannesburg, South Africa

Nicolas Meisel, Agence Française de Développement

William Minter, Editor, AfricaFocus Bulletin

Machiko Nissanke, Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London

Isabela Nogueira de Morais, Institute of Socioeconomics, University of Geneva

Bridget O’Laughlin, International Institute of Social Studies, ret. (ISS), The Hague and IESE

Ricardo Soares de Oliveira, Department of Politics and International Relations, Oxford University

Carlos Oya, Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London

Vishnu Padayachee, Institute of Social and Economic Research, Rhodes University, Grahamstown

Anne Pitcher, Center for Political Studies, University of Michigan

Nicolas Pons-Vignon, School of Economic and Business Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg

Anita J Prazmowska, Department of International History, London School of Economics

Isabel Raposo, Faculdade Arquitectura, Universidade de Lisboa

Paolo de Renzio, International Budget Partnership and Pontifical Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro

Simon Roberts, Centre for Competition, Regulation and Economic Development, University of Johannesburg

Alfredo Saad Filho, Department of Development Studies, SOAS, University of London

Michel Samuel, Département de sociologie, Université Paris 8

John S. Saul, Department of Political Science, York University, Toronto

Malcolm Sawyer, Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds

Ian Scoones, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex

Marina Temudo, Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical, Lisboa

Jan Toporowski, Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London

Mario Seccareccia, Department of Economics, University of Ottawa

Alessandro Vercelli, Department of Economics and Statistics, Università Di Siena

Patrice Vermeren, Département de philosophie, Université Paris 8

Immanuel Wallerstein, Sociology Department, Yale University

Edward Webster, University of Witwatersrand and Chris Hani Institute

Harry G. West, Department of Anthropology, SOAS, University of London

Gavin Williams, St Peter's College, Oxford.

Rosa Williams, International Studies Group, University of the Free State

Philip Woodhouse, IDPM, University of Manchester

Marc Wuyts, International Institute of Social Studies (ISS), Rotterdam

Nimrod Zalk, South African Department of Trade and Industry