WATCH: Freedom for Angolan political prisoners

A video including journalists, artists, musicians and activists all united in one voice for the freeing of a group of human rights activists who were arrested on 20 June.

According to Amnesty International, the arrested group was taken into custody as they met to discuss concerns about human rights abuses and governance concerns under the 36 year-old regime of President José Eduardo Dos Santos.

In the video, a number of people make statements demanding the immediate release of the activists.

We, the independent citizens of Angola and the world, hereby appeal to the Angolan authorities to immediate release our young democrats arrested in Luanda on 20th June 2015 on charges of an attempted coup d’état. Since their detention more than one year ago, not a single piece of evidence has been presented. We demand that the Angolan authorities respect the freedoms of speech and the thought enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic. The arrested youth are fighting for a democratic, peaceful and socially fair Angola. WE are too! We advocate an Angola where thinking differently is not a crime, where instead, people are encouraged to think differently. Because it’s our conviction that the confrontation of different ideas always yields better ideas. Angola’s greatest wealth is not its oil. It is not its diamonds. Angola’s greatest wealth is its people. People with different ideas and a common desire of liberty. We need to create an Angolan way of thinking that’s the creative and dynamic sum of all our thoughts the Angolans. Freedom to political prisoners, NOW!

President Dos Santos’ government is known by many to be one of Africa’s most repressive where dissent can result in torture, ‘disappearances’ and even death.

Watch the video below:

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