A cybercrime bill raised new concerns over the right to freedom of expression. Arbitrary arrests and detentions of human rights defenders continued. The residents of Annobón island were persecuted for protesting about damage to their lands allegedly caused by mining operations. The Spanish High Court ordered that an arrest warrant be issued for the president’s son over abduction and torture charges. Plans to increase mass surveillance of citizens intensified.
Background
In July, Prime Minister Manuela Roka Botey and her government resigned at the request of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema, who cited the government’s failure to resolve the economic crisis. In June, representatives of the International Monetary Fund visited to support the implementation of key policies for improving living conditions.
Freedom of expression
In March, parliament began debating a cybercrime bill that would introduce new restrictions on the use of social media, raising concerns that these could threaten people’s right to express views opposing official positions.
On 10 July the Bar Association confirmed the suspension of human rights lawyer Gemma Jones for two years for alleged serious infringements of the institution’s statutes. She had been under initial suspension since December 2023, after posting a video on TikTok calling for an independent judiciary.
Arbitrary arrests and detentions
On 26 January, human rights activist Anacleto Micha Ndong was arrested by four men at his home in the capital, Malabo.1 He was later accused of slander by a police officer who, he alleged, had tortured him during a previous detention in the city’s Black Beach prison in 2023. He was then detained without charge for over a month in the gendarmerie in Malabo. On 1 March, he was sent to Black Beach, before being transferred in April to Oveng Ansem prison, Mongomo.
In March, during its 99th session, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an Opinion calling for the immediate release of two South African citizens, Peter Shane Huxham and Frederik Johannes Potgieter. It found that the two men had been arbitrarily detained on drug trafficking charges since February 2023.
On 5 July, former justice minister Rubén Maye Nsue Mangue, who had been arbitrarily arrested in August 2022 after criticizing the president on social media, was granted a presidential pardon and released.
On 1 August, human rights defender Joaquín Elo Ayeto was arrested in his house in Malabo,2 accused of carrying out illegal activities through the civil society platform Somos+, which the authorities claimed was not legally registered. In June 2020, he had applied to the Ministry of Interior and Local Corporations for legal registration of the platform. He was notified that the application should be validated by the General Directorate of Human Rights, although such validation was not required by the law. He was sent to Black Beach prison on 9 August then transferred on 13 August to Oveng Ansem prison where he remained in detention.
Joaquín Elo Ayeto’s lawyer, Angel Obama Obiang Eseng, was detained for more than 48 hours when he went to the police station in Malabo to assist his client. On 14 August, he was suspended by the Bar Association for representing an illegal organization. On 24 December the Bar Association issued a resolution revoking the suspension.
Freedom of peaceful assembly
In July, residents of Annobón, an island of Equatorial Guinea situated some 500km from the mainland, protested against damage to their houses, farmlands and island ecosystem, allegedly due to constant dynamite explosions linked to mining operations. Following the protests, more than 30 people from Annobón were arrested and detained. Mobile phone and internet services were shut down for several weeks.
Torture and other ill-treatment
On 22 February, the Criminal Chamber of Spain’s National High Court ordered that arrest warrants be issued against Carmelo Ovono Obiang, son of the Equatorial Guinean president, and two other high-ranking government officials. This related to the alleged abduction, torture and enforced disappearance in 2019 of four opposition activists legally resident in Spain, including two Spanish citizens. One activist, Julio Obama Mefuman, a dual Spanish and Equatorial Guinean citizen, died in custody in 2023, having accused authorities of torturing him multiple times.
Mass surveillance
Vice-president Teodoro Nguema Obiang Mangue pressed ahead with plans to strengthen surveillance systems in the country, citing the ongoing need to fight criminality. The plans, announced in May, included installing and monitoring some 6,500 cameras with the capacity for live monitoring and facial recognition, linked to command centres nationwide. There were concerns that the additional surveillance could be used to repress dissenting voices.
Women’s and girls’ rights
In May, the government adopted the Djibloho Declaration, which outlined concrete actions to address gender disparities and promote women’s empowerment, reaffirming Equatorial Guinea’s commitment to international instruments protecting women’s rights.
In June, a report of the National Institute of Statistics analysing women’s participation in decision-making processes in state institutions concluded that, in 2023, women occupied just 29.5% of decision-making positions.
