http://makaangola.org
Letter from Bali
For the first time, I am attending an international
gathering exclusively dedicated to internet governance. The critical points of
discussion focus on freedom of expression, regulation, respect for human rights
and access to the internet.
The venue could not be more welcoming. The 8th
Internet Governance Forum is taking place in Bali, Indonesia. I am happy to be
a member of the Freedom House delegation attending the event, and I am greatly
enjoying the local hospitality.
As a multi-stakeholder meeting, the forum has been
offering a remarkable platform for the United Nations, governments, the
relevant private sector and civil society actors to engage in dialogue on
governance of the internet.
From civil society the voices converge on the need for
greater protection of journalists, bloggers and civil society organizations
that use the internet to promote freedom of press, human rights and government
accountability, particularly in repressive environments.
Delegates from civil society are also asking
governments for transparency in regulations, surveillance policies, and in
exposing private business practices that are harming human rights. These
include the export of surveillance technology to regimes bent on cracking down
on internal criticism. Many call for the naming and shaming of the companies
engaged in such business deals for putting so many activists in harm’s way.
The Angola Factor
These discussions have inspired me in respect to the
governance of the internet in Angola, my own country. Access to the internet
has been growing, and the most recent data shows that up to 5 percent of the 19
million Angolans are able to access the internet.
In spite of the negligible internet access by the
population, the internet has become the fundamental platform for freedom of
expression in Angola. The traditional media outlets, in general, are under the
tight grip of the government, and the internet is still unregulated.
However, recently the Angolan authorities started
aggressively pursuing activists for online activities critical of public officials,
particularly associated with corruption and human rights abuses.
This forum has also reminded me of a great danger that
lurks at the National Assembly of Angola. In April 2011, it passed the bill for
the proposed “Law to Combat Crimes by IT, Communications and Information
Services Companies.” If it comes into effect, it will be a draconian cybercrime
law.
A major public outcry led the National Assembly to
postpone the final vote on the proposed legislation. The ruling party, the
People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola (MPLA), controls more than 72
percent of the seats in parliament, and it only needs a general distraction to
make it a law.
Prosecuting the Messengers
On July 9, 2013, the Attorney-General’s Office charged
two activists, José Gama and Lucas Pedro Fenguele, each on three different
counts, for crimes of abuse of the press, defamation and slander against senior
public officials.
Both were accused of being part of a popular website
Club-K, which is based abroad and run by members of the Angolan diaspora. The
same office also issued “secret” travel bans against both activists, but it had
to reverse these days later, once the official arguments for the order were
exposed online.
The case raises serious legal concerns. Currently, the
Angolan legislation does not allow anyone to be prosecuted on the mere
suspicion of being linked to a website. Club-K is not registered in Angola,
either as a domain or as a media entity.
As a remedy, the government is using the media law for
prosecution. But this is also problematic. The media law requires the
authorities to identify the authors of the articles, or the managers or owners
of the outlets in which the contentious issues are published.
The Crime Scene
Two articles and an open letter have caused the
prosecutions. Two of them are a clear indication that the authorities are
targeting the messengers.
The Attorney-General of the Republic, General João
Maria de Sousa, lodged two criminal complaints against both activists for two
articles the website published about him this year. The first alleged that he
owns a mansion in Portugal, while the other was simply the re-posting of an
article published by the Portuguese weekly newspaper Expresso, on criminal
investigations that General João Maria de Sousa has been facing in Portugal for
money-laundering and fraud. The Attorney-General has not made any attempts to
sue the Portuguese publication, whose online contents are also available in
Angola. Furthermore, the Portuguese Attorney-General’s Office and the general
himself have publicly acknowledged the investigations against him.
In the third case, the website disclosed a letter
signed by family members of a detainee who had been tortured while in the
custody of the National Directorate for Criminal Investigation (DNIC). The
authorities did not deny the case of torture, nor press charges against the
detainee’s family members who signed the petition. The head of DNIC,
Commissioner Pedro Alexandre, decided best to prosecute the two activists whom
he also perceives to be representing the website.
What makes Club-K so popular is its policy of free
comments. Not even the pro-government online brigade is able to counteract the
range of free expression with which readers comment on issues of governance,
corruption and human rights that expose senior public officials. This is what
the government wants to eliminate, even though it knows it lacks the technical
capabilities to shut down the website in Angola.
The Draconian Internet Governance Bill
The proposed new law is an attempt by the government
to criminalize the use of the internet by journalists, bloggers and activists
who are critical of the regime.
Four of the seventy-seven articles of the draft law
raise immediate concerns. One article prohibits the online posting or sharing
of photos, recordings or videos without the consent of those appearing in the
content. Its accompanying jail sentence is two to eight years. This law, which
exempts the state media and all other state institutions from penalty,
essentially makes blogging, Facebook postings and participating in online media
a criminal activity for any person not working to serve the official functions
of the state. Another article penalizes anyone who sends or forwards a message
(email, text, tweet, etc.) with the intent to “disturb the peace and
tranquillity or the personal, family or sexual life of another person” (art.
18). Yet another article broadens the concept of terrorism to encompass any
“intent of changing or subverting the functioning of state institutions, to
force the authorities to undertake certain actions, to abstain from carrying
out such acts (…)” The sending of messages, news or posts that fall into this
vaguely-defined category carry a sentence of twelve to sixteen years in jail
(art. 24). A fourth article of the proposed law confers discretionary powers on
the military, police and state security apparatus to search homes without
warrants and seize data and related equipment, including computers, hard
drives, mobile phones, CDs, DVDs, pen drives, etc (art. 75, 1).
The initial draft law submitted by the Ministry of
Telecommunications and Information Technologies (MTTI), to the Presidency of
the Republic in 2010, did not include any one of the abovementioned articles.
It was the President, in his capacity as the executive who submitted the draft
law to the National Assembly, who in turn, inserted these provisions.
These recent additions, as some local analysts
suggest, were responses to the popular uprisings in North Africa that toppled
longstanding authoritarian leaders in Tunisia and Egypt. In these countries,
social media helped to overrun the propaganda apparatuses of their regimes.
Final Thoughts
As the regime of President José Eduardo dos Santos
waits for the right political moment to pass the draconian law, it is
imperative that those advocating for freedom of expression, in the
international arena, be aware of the Angolan situation.
Internet freedom campaigners must help Angolans to get
rid of such a despicable draft law for once and for all. Freedoms of expression
and of the press are enshrined in the Angolan Constitution, and advocates of
these freedoms must propose the drafting of a bill that respects the
constitution.
