Rafael Marques

Rafael Marques de Morais (born on August 31, 1971) is a journalist and human rights activist whose reports on the diamond industry and government corruption have earned him international acclaim. He is affiliated with the Open Society Institute. [http://www.unhchr.ch/TBS/doc.nsf/e121f32fbc58faafc1256a2a0027ba24/7fcd3e33e47034b1c1256ff0004c2c5b?OpenDocument Views of the Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Eighty-third session, Communication No. 1128/2002] Open Society Institute via United Nations Human Rights Committee]

"The Lipstick of a Dictatorship"

Marques wrote "The Lipstick of Dictatorship," an article criticizing President José Eduardo dos Santos, on July 3, 1999. The National Criminal Investigation Division (DNIC) questioned him on October 13 for several hours before releasing him. Later that day Morais gave an interview with "Radio Ecclésia" and repeated his criticism of the dos Santos government. Twenty armed members of the Rapid Intervention Police arrested him along with Aguiar dos Santos, the publisher of "Agora", and Antonio José Freitas, "Agora" staff reporter, on charges of defamation on October 16, 1999. Marques said dos Santos bore responsibility for the "destruction of the country... for the promotion of incompetence, embezzlement and corruption as political and social values." Marques also referred to dos Santos as a "dictator." A Luanda court found Freitas innocent but found Aguiar and Marques guilty on March 31, 2000. The court sentenced Aguiar to two months in prison and a $6,000 fine. Marques, found guilty of violating articles 43, 44, 45 and 46 of Press Law No. 22/91, received a sentence of six months in prison. Marques refused food for eight days to protest his inability to meet with his lawyer, Anacleta Perreira, or his family. Police released him on bail on November 25 but barred him from leaving Luanda or talking to journalists. [http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2000/Angola_Marques_00/Angola_Marques_00.html Marques gets six months for defaming president] Committee to Protect Journalists]

He received the Civil Courage Prize from the Northcote Parkinson Fund in 2006. [http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/06/africa/marques.htm The power of oil and the state of democracy in Angola] World Hunger Notes]

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