Time to let a Dictator know the World is not justice-blind

I urge you to please oppose to corrupt billionaire Angolan dictator’s plan to turn international solidarity attention away from the illegally-based trial of the 15+2 young peaceful Angolan activists, which is scheduled to go on this week until Friday 20th November. One of the defense lawyers, David Mendes, did not have prior access to the case before entering the court room on Monday. What could happen to the 15 jailed as well as female activists Laurinda Gouveia and Rosa Conde on parole, under their impartial trial? Last September, activist José Mavungo received a 6-year jail sentence for attempting to hold a peaceful protest. Mavungo is one of the prisoners included in our petition. The first activist heard was 19-year-old Nito Alves, beaten up on several occasions, and first arrested in 2013 for two months for printing words on T-Shirts against dictator President José Eduardo dos Santos. Our petition has so far sent over 1500 emails to Angolan diplomats in the EU and UN, and EU diplomats in Angola to exercise their diplomatic power and put pressure on Angolan Government to free these activists, and release a transparent report on their case. We have been joined by people close to the activists have like music producer Pedro Coquenão and several other renowned Angolan/International artists, as well as Member of European Parliament, Ana Gomes, Angolan University Scholar, Nelson Pestana, and various Angolan Activists and Ex-Prisoners of Conscience. The petition letter has also been sent by postal mail, containing our 1500 petition signatures (a printable pdf document from Change.org). Let’s make sure the chorus of international voices which rose during the 36-day hunger strike in jail of activist Luaty Beirão last month, and other jailed activists, keeps demanding freedom and justice to all these Prisoners of Conscience, mostly arrested while discussing the essay “From Dictatorship to Democracy”. They have spent five humiliating months illegally in jail, under bad health condition (taken to a prison-hospital one month before trial), against Angola’s Constitutional right that allows awaiting trial on Parole for Rebellion and Coup d’état, which they were accused of. We could also increase pressure if we keep sharing our petition (short url: bit.ly/FreeAngola), posting and retweeting information on the trial, joining vigilies in our cities or writing to our local governors asking them to take a stand and officially demand justice. Also, the diplomats included in this petition work at EU (http://goo.gl/6HIisi) and UN (http://goo.gl/QA2QZu), which have both condemned Angolan regime's violation of Human Rights and Freedom of Expression since the arrest of the activists. These diplomats can be asked to defend this position with the Angolan Government. Their office phone numbers are the following: Mr. Apolinário Jorge Correia, Ambassador of Angola at UN Office in Geneva (Switzerland). Tel: +41 22 732 30 60 / +41 22 716 22 50 Ms. Maria Elizabeth Simbrão de Carvalho, Head of Mission of Angola to the EU (Brussels). Tel: +32 23461872 / 80 Mr. Gordon Kricke, EU Delegation ambassador in Angola Telefone: +244 222 444 449 / 222 444 630 Ms. Áurea Pereira, Head of Human Rights at EU Delegation in Angola Telefone: +244 222 444 449 / 222 444 630 Many thanks for your support. One love, Miguel