The brave anti-corruption reporter Rafael Marques de Morais faces nine years in prison and $1.2 million in fines as a result of his book "Blood Diamonds: Corruption and Torture in Angola," published in Portugal in 2011.

The book details alleged crimes against the people of Lundas region in Angola by the mining companies in league with political and military figures in Angola, including alleged: killings, torture and forced displacements.

The diamond mining companies and military officials filed a defamation lawsuit against Marques in Portugal but the court dismissed it; the officials then commenced the current action in Angola and Marques' trial started March 24.

Amnesty International and dozens of human rights and press freedom organizations have signed an open letter calling for Marques' release. The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for his release.

President Dos Santos must end the sham trial.

Marques has a long history and a reputation for exposing human rights abuses, exposing corruption, and denouncing dictatorship in Angola. He has in the past been arrested many times in Angola, imprisoned, and tortured by food and water deprivation.

Marques won the Percy Qoboza Award the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) in the U.S. in 2000; he won the Civil Courage Prize from the Northcote Parkinson Fund, which recognizes "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk -- rather than military valor," in 2006; and, he won the Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Award, in 2015.

Please add your voice to this petition demanding FREEDOM for Rafael Marques de Morais and FREEDOM OF THE PRESS in Angola.

You can also call Ambassador Gaspar Martins, Angola's Permanent Representative to the United Nations at (212) 861-5656: tell him to convey the message to President Dos Santos to FREE Marques.

Share this petition with friends and colleagues concerned about press freedom, accountable governance, and corruption in Africa.