V. The Government’s Record on Civil and Political Rights

Overview

When asked by a journalist in November 2003 about human rights in Equatorial Guinea, President Obiang replied, “The international groups need to understand the real situation in the country because there is no abuse of human rights here. The press is free ... and we have the Commission for Human Rights.”[233] In reality, the combined impact of the lack of freedom of the media, information, assembly, and association, and severe deficits in the rule of law, has stunted the growth of meaningful civil society in Equatorial Guinea and has limited the activities of the democratic opposition. There are few countries in Africa where the deficit in civil society and political opposition is so pronounced or where the lack of audible independent voices, so critical for democracy and the rule of law, is so evident.

Human Rights Watch has documented real or perceived government opponents’ experiences of abuse ranging from arbitrary arrest and detention without trial to torture, harassment, and extrajudicial killing. As documented below, Equatoguinean security forces have also kidnapped opposition politicians in exile in order for them to stand trial in Equatorial Guinea.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention visited Equatorial Guinea from July 8 t0 13, 2007, at the invitation of the government. The Working Group visited Malabo and the mainland cities of Bata and Evinayong. It was able to visit the main prisons and interviewed, in private and without witnesses, some 200 detainees. The Working Group concluded,

The discovery of large oil reserves points to the advent of an era of great economic prosperity in the near future. However, the Working Group confirmed, and it could not be otherwise given the recent history of the country, that institution-building is still limited, and the human rights culture has not taken sufficient root in institutions.... The Working Group considers that there cannot be true development in the country if the current economic growth does not go hand in hand with institution-building, the enforcement of the rule of law and the genuine exercise of human rights.”[234]

Areas of concern identified by the Working Group included its observation that laws and regulations inherited from the colonial era and dating back to the Franco dictatorship in Spain are still in effect and enforced. In its report, the Working Group also highlighted the problems of secret detentions and abduction of opposition politicians in neighboring countries as being of particular concern.[235]

Manfred Nowak, the UN’s special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, visited Equatorial Guinea for 10 days in November 2008 following an invitation of the government. Although he commended the government for allowing him to visit the country, his interim report concluded that torture was rife in the country and highlighted that:

• Political prisoners in Malabo’s Black Beach Prison have reportedly been held incommunicado for periods of up to four years;
• The justice system is dysfunctional and lacks independence, and arbitrary detention is common practice; and
• Torture continues to be used systematically against prisoners who refuse “to collaborate,” whether accused of political or common crimes, and is used to extract confessions and to punish detainees.[236]

Nowak recommended a complete overhaul of the country’s penal and judicial systems based on the rule of law, an independent judiciary, and effective monitoring mechanisms to combat torture. He also voiced his fear “about possible reprisals against detainees who provided testimony to us, in particular at the central police stations of Malabo and Bata.[237]

The Equatoguinean government issued the following press statement in response to the interim report in January 2009 defending its commitment to human rights.[238]

Equatorial Guinea Reaffirms its Commitment to Human Rights The government of Equatorial Guinea is gravely concerned with the allegations made by the United Nations special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Mr. Manfred Nowak, during his November 2008 visit to the country. Although the government strongly objects to the manner in which Mr. Nowak made public his allegations and his conduct during his stay here, we take serious any allegations made against government officials and our government. The government of Equatorial Guinea is committed to reforming our judicial process and looks forward to receiving the official report from the United Nations so that we might investigate all allegations. The UN rapporteur was invited by the government of Equatorial Guinea to assess the progress made by the government in protecting the rights of its citizens, including the treatment of individuals in detention facilities, and to identify areas where further work needs to be done. Over the last several years, the government of Equatorial Guinea, in cooperation with the United States government, the European Union and the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC], has undertaken a number of important steps to reform our judicial process, professionalize our military and police forces, build modern detention facilities and provide human rights training to security officials. In 2006 the government passed an anti-torture law and has since passed further regulations to protect human rights. The government has contributed significant resources to improve our judicial process and law enforcement training along with rigorous regulations and inspections. For two years, MPRI, a US company, has been working in Equatorial Guinea to train a number of our police forces. The training has included instruction on appropriate human rights practices, and our government will continue that engagement. The government is in discussions with MPRI to substantially expand its human rights training to our security forces, both in content and in personnel to be trained, in accordance to international standards. The government has also established an education program for judges to provide them the latest legal training, and the University of Equatorial Guinea established the country’s first-ever law school to guarantee a uniform system of legal education and the rule of law. Regarding the report of the special rapporteur, the government of Equatorial Guinea will establish a committee to work on reviewing the upcoming United Nations report and its finding and recommend a course of action to be taken by the government to address any shortcomings. The government will also request additional assistance from the United States, European Union, United Nations and others to modernize our judicial process and provide additional human rights training for our security forces. The government of Equatorial Guinea is committed to the rule of law and protecting human rights. We invite the United Nations to return along with any organization that is willing to work alongside us to aggressively address these issues and solve these problems. This is a process that will not see a solution overnight, but our government remains vigilant in its obligation to work collaboratively with nations and organizations that will help us build a stronger and sustainable democracy. Malabo, 23 of January of 2009   For A Stronger Equatorial Guinea

Limited progress on human rights, including criminalization of torture

The Equatoguinean government has made some very limited progress on civil and political rights in the past decade, as indicated by the brief visit of the UN special rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression in December 2002, the Working Group’s July 2007 visit, and the visit of the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in November 2008,[239] and other invitations for international scrutiny, including access by the ICRC to prisons since 2003 (see below).[240] Periodic amnesties since 2002 have benefitted political prisoners and other detainees (see below).

On November 2, 2006, a law criminalizing torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading acts went into effect in compliance with the government’s obligations as a party to the UN Convention against Torture. The law, the first of its kind to be approved in the country, imposes penalties against citizens using torture, including prison sentences of up to six months and fines of 300,000 Central African francs (US$572) for those found guilty of using torture. Most importantly, the law also prohibits the use of evidence in courts that has been obtained through the use of torture. Some of the cases described below and in the next chapter, as well as cases such as the October 6, 2007, death in custody of Salvador Ndong Nguema from injuries inflicted during torture in Evinayong jail several days earlier,[241] indicate that torture and ill-treatment remain serious concerns.

Media and Information Freedom Heavily Curtailed

Equatorial Guinea was ranked as the fourth most-censored country in the world (after North Korea, Burma, and Turkmenistan) by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on May 2, 2006.[242]  The Paris-based Reporters without Borders, in their “Annual Worldwide Press Freedom Index for 2008,” ranked Equatorial Guinea as 156 out of 173 (only Eritrea was worse in Africa).[243] There is no daily newspaper, and shopkeepers need official permission to sell or distribute international newspapers or news magazines. With only two non-state-controlled newspapers published in the country, neither of which can report critically on government activity, a meaningful independent press is nonexistent.[244]

Freedom of expression is a fundamental right guaranteed by the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The current 1992 press law in Equatorial Guinea authorizes government censorship of all publications.[245]Self-censorship and fear are widespread. There has been some liberalization, especially around Malabo and assisted by the presence of a growing number of international commercial actors, but the more isolated areas outside Bata in Rio Muni and in the interior of Bioko Island, which have not been impacted by the oil boom, do not enjoy the same level of access to information.

Only one newspaper is distributed regularly, the Malabo-based, but Spanish-printed, monthly La Gaceta. Ebano, a publication of the Ministry of Information,also appears approximately twice a month.[246] The editor of the only independent paper, La Opinion, complained to Human Rights Watch that he could not print his paper, first because of a lack of newsprint itself, but also because fear of possessing copies led to a lack of sales.[247] Moreover, only the political opposition, the Convergencia para la Democracia Social, dares advertise in La Opinion, meaning it is not commercially viable to print and now only appears on the internet. The CPDS also irregularly produces a print and web-based newspaper, La Verdad, but people are also reluctant to be seen possessing it in public. On June 9, 2005, airport police in Bata seized 200 copies that had been destined for distribution on the mainland.[248]

Aside from the print media there is only state radio and state television.[249] The one private radio station is Radio Asonga, the popular news and music station of the president’s son, Teodorin Nguema Obiang Mangue. Teodorin Obiang also operates Television Asonga, a cable TV channel in Bata. The government generally withholds access to domestic broadcasting from opposition parties, and broadcasters refer to the opposition negatively in news programs. In 1987 the government allowed Spain to set up Radio Africa 2000 in Malabo, but, following pressure from the government, the station stopped broadcasting in 1993.[250] Most independent news is sourced internationally from the internet and from cable and satellite broadcasts, particularly reports on Equatorial Guinea from the Spanish media.[251]

According to the US Department of State in September 2008,

The government raided the headquarters of the opposition CPDS in an attempt to confiscate an unlicensed radio transmitter and forcibly confiscated editions of a semi-regular CPDS publication. In August [2008], after informing the government in writing of its intention to set up a radio station ... CPDS had begun testing the equipment. In September the government ordered the party to cease transmitting, which it did, and alleged that the CPDS illegally imported broadcast equipment ... without passing through customs and paying requisite taxes.... The CPDS refused to surrender the broadcast equipment.... On September 13, 20 members of the security forces raided the CPDS headquarters in Malabo in an attempt to confiscate the equipment.[252]

Although the government has allowed the Equatorial Guinea Press Association (Asociación de la Prensa de Guinea Ecuatorial, ASOPGE) to hold conferences and events, it has shut it down in the past.[253] Local journalists are required to register with the Ministry of Information.[254]

At times, the media has highlighted official excesses in general terms, such as in La Gaceta in 2003.[255] Public and media criticism of public institutions and public sector mismanagement, though, is discouraged, and no criticism of the president and security forces is tolerated.

Restrictions on Freedom of Assembly

Equatoguinean law provides for the right of assembly. In practice, however, the Equatoguinean government requires authorization for any meeting of more than 10 persons that it deems political, including a meeting in a private home. Furthermore, the political opposition must inform the government of any meeting it plans to hold, regardless of location, including in its party buildings. In July 2005 the government allowed the opposition CPDS to holds its convention, which was attended by foreign diplomats, in Bata. The CPDS, however, was not allowed to publicize a conference—part of the convention—that dealt with human rights laws passed by the government and international bodies. The CPDS was also not allowed to invite the general public or members of other political parties to participate in panel discussions.[256]

Imprisonment of Opposition Politicians and Perceived Government Opponents

Because the Equatoguinean government restricts access of independent monitoring groups to prisons and fails to maintain accurate registration lists of prisoners, the exact number of political prisoners in Equatorial Guinea is hard to ascertain.[257] Amnesty International in 2007 declared 30 individuals to be prisoners of conscience, while the US Department of State estimates there are some 39 political prisoners.[258]

Since President Obiang came to power in August 1979, there have been over a dozen allegations of coup attempts, including three reported attempts in 2004, one in 2008, and an attack by unidentified gunmen on the presidential palace in Malabo in February 2009.[259]Although Human Rights Watch is not in a position to verify whether each individual alleged coup attempt was actually real, we do note the abuses associated with the government’s response. The announcement of a foiled or failed plot has usually been followed by waves of arrests of opposition politicians, military personnel, their families and friends.[260] 

Despite repeated requests by successive UN special representatives since the 1980s, the Equatoguinean government did not allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to conduct prison visits until 2003.[261] In 2004 and 2005 the ICRC was able to visit prisoners, including some members of opposition parties and persons the government accused of involvement in coup attempts, and it has made recommendations about prison conditions to the government, though (as is ICRC practice) they have not released the recommendations publicly. Since 2006 the ICRC has been able to make periodic visits to three prisons and twelve jails and has met privately with prisoners, though it appears that some political prisoners who had been detained without trial were moved prior to such visits and did not show up on prison rosters. In 2007 the ICRC made regular monthly visits to Malabo central prison, known as “Black Beach,” where it said 80 prisoners were held.[262] By March 2008, however, the ICRC had suspended its visits to jails and prisons because, despite its repeated requests, authorities did not meet the organization’s minimum modalities and conditions required for international monitoring. It hopes to resume visits in 2009.[263] The Equatoguinean government allowed some diplomatic visits to Black Beach prison in 2005 and again in 2007 and 2008, but did not allow these visits in 2006.

President Obiang announces periodic amnesties, usually in relation to a national holiday or prominent date.[264] In October 2002 and in August 2003, the president granted amnesty to 18 political prisoners (the August amnesty was announced on the 24th anniversary of the military coup that brought Obiang to power on August 3, 1979, and was timed for a news crew that was in the country from 60 Minutes). In June and November 2006, and to mark his 66th birthday on June 5, 2008, the president again pardoned and released some political prisoners and other detainees. The most recent amnesty was on June 4, 2008, when the government media reported that Obiang had freed 37 people. This release coincided with the president’s birthday.[265] However, Amnesty International noted that some of those people had been released already in 2003 and 2006.[266]

Detentions and abuse arising from coup plot allegations

Alleged coup in 2002 and clampdown on the Fuerza Demócrata Republicana party

Between mid-March and May 2002, about 144 people linked to the unlegalized opposition party Fuerza Demócrata Republicana (FDR) were arrested by the authorities under suspicion of attempting a coup and put on trial in May and June. Sixty-eight of the accused were given jail sentences ranging from six to twenty years. Among them were Plácido Micó (secretary-general of the CPDS), Felipe Nguema Obiang (leader of the FDR and a former education minister), Guillermo Nguema Elá (FDR, and a former planning minister), and Felipe Ondó Obiang (a leader of the Unión Popular).[267] A delegate from Amnesty International who observed the trial described the proceedings as highly irregular and unjust, and the trial was widely condemned, including by the European Union.[268] (For the earlier trial of Guillermo Nguema and Felipe Ondó in 1998 following their abduction from exile, see below.) Fabian Nsue Nguema (secretary-general of the UP) was also arrested in an unrelated case.

At least some of these detainees were tortured while in custody. Human Rights Watch interviewed two of the defendants who had been tortured while in pretrial detention in 2002. They described being tied up with a rope and hung from a bar. Their wrists, ankles, and shoulders were either dislocated or broken as a result of their treatment. Human Rights Watch examined their medical records which, together with the scars the prisoners showed to our researcher, were consistent with the torture that they described. The individuals also described how they were blindfolded for prolonged periods, kept in appalling conditions, and denied access to their lawyers and family. They said that the mistreatment was intended to coerce them into making incriminating statements regarding their alleged role in the coup attempt.[269] According to Amnesty International, two individuals died in July and August 2002 as a result of poor prison conditions and from the injuries they sustained from torture and ill-treatment.[270]

Guillermo Nguema had been in poor health when he was arrested, and his health worsened because of ill-treatment while detained in Black Beach prison.[271] Felipe Ondo Obiang was removed from Black Beach on June 9, 2003, and transferred to Evinayong jail in Rio Muni where he was initially held in seriously inhuman and degrading conditions. He was not allowed regular access to his family or to a lawyer and was kept in solitary confinement and chained for several months. His physical and mental health reportedly deteriorated during this time.[272]

Plácido Micó was pardoned and released under the August 2003 presidential amnesty. The June 2006 amnesty benefitted 42 people, including 10 to 15 members or sympathizers of the FDR who had been convicted in the May and June coup trials, one of whom was Felipe Ondó Obiang.[273]Guillermo Nguema Elá, Felipe Nguema Obiang, and 12 other FDR members were among beneficiaries of the June 2008 amnesty.[274]The authorities have ordered all those pardoned in June 2008 to stay in their villages of origin. They have been told they may not leave without authorization, even though many of them had been living in other towns for many years prior to their arrest.

Alleged coup attempts in 2003 and 2004

In November and December 2003 there were arrests of some 100 army servicemen whose ranks ranged from general to cadet (a number of others fled Equatorial Guinea at this time to seek asylum in Cameroon, Gabon, and Spain).[275] Some 80 of the detainees were prosecuted for “crimes against state security” during a one-day secret trial in Bata by a military tribunal in February 2004.[276] About half of those tried were convicted and received sentences of six to thirty years in prison. Unusually for Equatorial Guinea, some of the families of the accused publicly denounced the proceedings as unjust.[277] 

On May 28, 2004, some 20 people reportedly attacked a military barracks on Corisco Island in what the authorities called a coup attempt. According to the government, security forces killed five people. Amnesty International, however, reported that soldiers shot and killed some 12 to 16 attackers as they fled and summarily executed those who surrendered. Five people arrested after the alleged attack appeared on television, and footage seen by Human Rights Watch suggests that sections had been cut out of their ears. There have also been allegations that one of those arrested, Alfredo Asumu, was suspended from a ceiling and beaten.[278] The attorney general interviewed them in August 2005, but it is unknown what then happened.

A further crackdown against military personnel occurred in October and November 2004 with the arrest of scores of soldiers and former soldiers whom the Equatorial Guinea authorities accused of plotting a coup on October 8, 2004. There were some 80 arrests of military officers plus family members.[279] About 70 people charged with offenses related to this alleged coup attempt were reportedly tortured before and during a military trial from September 6 to 19, 2005, in Bata. The group consisted of former military officers and relatives of the alleged leader of the attempted coup. Most of the defendants had been held incommunicado in Bata Prison since their arrests in December 2004 and January 2005. All but two of the defendants reportedly stated in the military court that they had been tortured in detention, and some reportedly still bore visible marks. One man apparently had to be carried in and out of court as he was unable to walk as a result of torture. Statements extracted by torture were used as evidence during the hearing. The trial did not conform to international fair trial standards, and at least six persons were tried in absentia in contravention of national law. In all cases the defense lawyers did not have access to prosecution-held evidence and only had their client’s statements. Those convicted had no right to appeal, and the court ignored the allegations of torture. Nine persons, including six in absentia defendants, were sentenced to thirty years in prison on charges of undermining the security of the state and attempting to overthrow the government.[280] Eleven others were convicted of the same offenses as accessories and sentenced to twenty-one years’ imprisonment. Francisco Mba Mendama (who was also convicted of undermining the security of the state and received a 30-year prison sentence) and two others were convicted of treason and received additional 25-year prison sentences. One person received a 12-year prison sentence.

Since October 2004, Florencio Ela, wife of one of the in absentia defendants, Florencio Ela Bibang, as well as other members of his family and friends, have been reportedly imprisoned without charge or trial. According to Amnesty International they have reportedly been tortured. (For Bibang’s abduction from Nigeria, as well as the abduction from neighboring countries of other alleged coup plotters convicted in absentia, and their subsequent “disappearance,” see below.)

The Moto coup of 2008

Reports of coup attempts have become a trademark of Equatorial Guinea’s politics, especially during electoral cycles where allegations have been used by the government to detain or intimidate opposition supporters. An example of this was in March 2008 in the run-up to the legislative elections: Saturnino Ncogo Mbomio, a militant of Severo Moto’s banned Partido de Progreso de Guinea Ecuatorial, was arrested by security police on March 12, 2008, following the discovery of weapons in a second-hand car being imported from Spain to Equatorial Guinea. Saturnino Mbomio was allegedly tortured, and the authorities claim that a search of his house uncovered three assault rifles, a sniper rifle, a gun with a silencer, and some ammunition. The authorities allege he committed suicide in Black Beach prison by throwing himself from the top of a bunk bed, fracturing his skull, but the government has refused to investigate his death.[281]

Saturnino Mbomio’s arrest was followed by the arrest in March of at least six others—Emiliano Esono Micha, Cruz Obiang Ebebere, Gumersindo Ramírez Faustino, Bonfacio Nguema Ndong, Pedro Ndong, and Gerardo Angüe—all of whom appear to have been arrested because of a past association with the PPGE.[282] They were put on trial in late June 2008 with Simon Mann, accused of the March 2004 “Wonga coup” (see Chapter VI). During the trial they were given minimal access to their lawyer and withdrew their confessions. One detainee declared he had been tortured, and they were all convicted.[283]

Other prisoner cases

Case of Rev. Bienvenido Samba Momesori 

Rev. Bienvenido Samba Momesori,  a Protestant pastor of the Church of Cherubs and Seraphs, was arrested on October 26, 2003, in Malabo, and held without charge or trial until his release by presidential pardon on June 5, 2008. He was initially imprisoned at Black Beach prison but was moved to Evinayong jail on the mainland when the authorities learned that an ICRC delegation had been looking for him (the ICRC was subsequently able to visit him regularly).

Reverend Samba had previously been arrested in 1998 following attacks on a military barracks by a small, armed Bioko separatist group. Samba was at the time convicted and sentenced to death, commuted to life imprisonment. He had been released in October 2002 under a presidential pardon.[284]

Wave of arrests of opposition politicians in 2004

Pedro Ndong and Salvador Bibang were detained in Malabo in March 2004, and at this writing five years on, they remain held without charge. Their detention was believed to be connected to their previous membership in the outlawed PPGE, the party led by exile leader Severo Moto. Other arrests followed. On June 27, security forces shot and wounded Marcelino Manuel Nguema Esono, another PPGE leader, in the course of arresting him in Bata.[285]

As is often the pattern in Equatorial Guinea, relatives of suspects are detained by security forces in an attempt to force suspects to cooperate. In 2004, according to the US Department of State, relatives of PPGE supporters, including the wife of activist Marcelino Nguema Esono, Pilar Angue Adimi, their daughter Elvira Okomo, and Nicolas Obiang, “were arrested and tortured. Their homes were looted and dismantled.”[286]

On March 4, 2004, Weja Chicampo Puye, leader of the unregistered Movimento para la Autodeterminacion de Isla de Bioko (MIAB), was arrested by at least 10 hooded police officers who beat him and knocked him unconscious, breaking his nose. He was imprisoned incommunicado and denied medical treatment for several months;[287] for the first four months he was held in handcuffs, and on April 5 he was moved briefly by the authorities from Black Beach prison to the military prison (Campamento Acacio Mañé) so as not to be seen by a visiting ICRC delegation.[288] Weja Chicampo was eventually brought before an investigative judge, and on June 5, 2006, he was taken by several police officers to the airport and put on a scheduled flight to Madrid, Spain, without a passport.[289] His release and expulsion was part of an amnesty decreed by President Obiang, although he had not been charged or tried.[290]

His family was not informed about his expulsion or whereabouts. His expulsion violates the country’s constitution, which guarantees freedom of movement and the right to choose one’s place of residence, and well as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Weja Chicampo had returned to Equatorial Guinea from exile in Spain in August 2003 by the invitation of Equatorial Guinea’s then-prime minister, and he was in the process of getting his party legally recognized at the time of his arrest. Human Rights Watch openly met him in Malabo in late 2003, at which time he expressed his hope for greater democratic openness in Equatorial Guinea.[291] He believes he was imprisoned because although he advocates a peaceful project called the “Three D’s—Democracy, Development and Decentralisation,” the government incorrectly suspected that he wanted to overthrow the government.

Short-term detention

In January 2004 police arrested Simon Maria Nsue Moky of the Republican Forces for Reflection and Action on Equatorial Guinea (FRRAGE) for distributing information about a FRRAGE meeting abroad. He was detained incommunicado without charge for six weeks before being released.[292]

In November 2004 Pio Miguel Obama, a member of the CPDS and a Malabo local councillor, was arrested and accused of holding an illegal meeting in Basupú, although he was not there on the day in question. He was released without charge on December 24, 2004.

On May 8, 2005, a delegation of 15 CPDS activists were attacked at Malabo airport while trying to leave the country to take part in a conference in Spain organized by a foundation close to Spain’s ruling Socialist party. The activists had been asked by officials for exit permits to leave the country, which they claimed they did not require. This resulted in policemen attacking the young people and those accompanying them, hitting them with the butts of their handguns, causing substantial injury to some and leaving some girls undressed in public. At least 10 CPDS supporters were arrested and detained in Malabo’s central police station. Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos raised the issue with his Equatoguinean counterpart, Pastor Ondo Bile, on May 11, 2005, in Madrid during a meeting.[293] The detained CPDS activists, including an individual who had been badly injured but had been given no medical treatment, were released a week later. All citizens are usually required to obtain permission to travel abroad from the local police commissioner, and members of opposition parties sometimes find this is used to stop their supporters from travelling or to delay their travel arrangements.[294]  In this case, according to the US Department of State’s “Country Report on Human Rights Practices,” police reportedly asked them for their authorization as a pretext to attack them.[295]

Harassment of the opposition continued during 2006 through 2008, although more sporadically than in 2004 and 2005. On October 8, 2006, José Antonio Nguema, Filemón Ondó, Florencio Ondó, and Basilio Mayé, all associated with the PPGE, were arrested in Bata and held incommunicado in Bata public prison on charges of being members of a banned political party and possessing party leaflets and other documents. They were deprived of food and water for several days, and their lives were threatened unless they confessed to illegal association and possession of documents “harmful to the state.” They appeared before the investigating judge on October 31, 2006, and on November 12 they were released without charge.[296] Their release occurred immediately prior to an official visit by President Obiang to Spain.

Ten CPDS activists were arrested on April 8, 2006, when they tried to convene an approved meeting in Rebola. Eight were quickly released, but executive committee members Carlos Ona Boriesa and Carmelo Indi were beaten during their detention and transferred to the Baney military camp. They were released and taken back to Rebola that evening after a senior official intervened.[297] On October 12, 2006, security forces briefly arrested three CPDS district leaders for preparing to hold a meeting in Acurenam.[298]

On October 14, 2007, according to the US Department of State, security forces arrested Jaime Ndong Edu, a CPDS member, who was subsequently detained and tortured by Deputy Police Commissioner Donato Abogo Menden.[299] Jaime Ndong was subsequently released.[300]

The wife of FDR leader Guillermo Nguema, Brígida Asongsua Elo, was arrested on December 16, 2007, following a visit to her husband in prison. She was held without charge or trial in harsh conditions at Malabo central police station until April 25, 2008.

In March 2009, according to Amnesty International,

Nine members of the opposition party, People’s Union, including the wife and brother of the party’s leader, have been arbitrarily arrested and detained without charge or trial in the aftermath of an attack on the presidential palace in the capital, Malabo, on February 17, 2009.... The Equatorial Guinean government attributed the attack to forces of the Nigerian armed group the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND), which the MEND has denied.[301]

Abduction of opposition politicians from neighbouring countries

On many occasions, the Equatoguinean security forces have kidnapped opposition politicians in exile in order for them to stand trial in Equatorial Guinea. After Felipe Ondó Obiang and Guillermo Nguema Elá of the unlegalized FDR party went into exile in Gabon, they were abducted by Equatoguinean security forces and brought back to Equatorial Guinea to stand trial in 1998. Both were convicted of libel against the government and sentenced to 30 months’ imprisonment; they were released in 2001.

In May 2005 Amnesty International reported that Juan Ondó Abaga, who had been in exile for eight years in Benin, had been abducted by Equatoguinean security personnel in January 2005 and taken to Black Beach prison in Malabo, where he was being held incommunicado.[302] He had been convicted in absentia for involvement in an alleged October 2004 coup attempt and given a 30-year prison term. He was released by the June 5, 2008 amnesty, but three other citizens remain unaccounted for.[303]

The safety of three individuals who have now been effectively “disappeared” is of particular concern. Lt. Col. Florencio Ela Bibang and Felipe Esono Ntumu “Pancho” were arrested in Lagos in late April 2005 by Nigerian security officials, along with a third man, Antonio Edú (Antimo Edú Nchama).[304] According to Amnesty International, the three were held incommunicado by various branches of Nigeria’s security services; they appear to have been handed over to Equatorial Guinean security personnel on July 3, 2005, and taken to Black Beach prison, where they were tortured.[305] There has been no confirmation by the Equatorial Guinean government of their presence, and the Nigerian government denies knowledge of their current whereabouts, but the US Department of State has reported that when the ICRC and the National Human Rights Commission visited Black Beach prison, these inmates were moved to other locations so that the representatives could not see them or talk to them.[306] The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in July 2007 tried to gain access to Juan Ondó Abaga, Felipe Esono Ntumu “Pancho,” Florencio Ela Bibang, and Antonio Edú at Black Beach prison, having received a private letter during its visit to Black Beach saying the prisoners were kept in a separate wing of the prison and wanted to meet them. The Equatoguinean authorities denied their existence.[307]

In August 2005 two political refugees were reportedly kidnapped from their home in Libreville, Gabon, and driven to the Equatorial Guinean embassy, from where they escaped to the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR).[308] This pattern continued in 2008 after former Equatoguinean army colonel Cipriano Nguema Mba was arrested illegally on or around October 8, 2008, by two Cameroonian police officers and handed over to security personnel at the Equatorial Guinean embassy in Yaoundé. The Cameroonian authorities have denied any role in his arrest; they have arrested two policemen and have launched an investigation into the matter. UNHCR has also asked the Cameroonian authorities to explain Nguema Mba’s disappearance, as he was a UNHCR-recognized refugee in Cameroon. His family and UN officials have visited him at Black Beach prison and report that he shows no signs of torture.[309]

In October 2003 Nguema Mba had fled the country after being accused of plotting to overthrow the Equatoguinean government and stealing money. In his absence he was tried at a secret military trial in February 2004, at which he was sentenced to 30 years in prison. According to Amnesty International, many members of his family and close associates were also defendants at the same trial, and many were tortured during the pretrial detention.[310]

Two men, Fabián Ovono Esono and José Ndong, were also reportedly abducted in Nigeria and returned to Equatorial Guinea in December 2008. Both had also fled the country in 2003 to escape a crackdown on people suspected of involvement in a coup against the president. Amnesty International believes they are held in prison in Bata.[311]

Extrajudicial Killings Abroad

There are regular allegations about the Equatorial Guinean security forces committing extraterritorial, extrajudicial executions. Manuel Tomo-Mayo was stabbed in the stomach in front of his brothers’ house on June 20, 2005, in Madrid by an assailant who claimed to follow orders from Malabo. Manuel Tomo was the brother of exiled activist German Pedro Tomo Mangue (who was reportedly the target). Spanish police and government officials have claimed this was a revenge attack for a local dispute.[312] On February 4, 2006, two unidentified assailants in Côte d’Ivoire murdered political dissident Atanasio Bita Rope Laesa.[313] According to police his body was found with two bullet wounds two days after he had been abducted by individuals who claimed to be police. Although an exiled Equatoguinean opposition party claims this was a politically motivated murder, Human Rights Watch is unable to establish the veracity of this claim. The Spanish embassy in Abidjan investigated this case, but its findings were inconclusive. However, it indicated it would assist the surviving family to obtain asylum in Spain.