Luaty Beirao
Luaty Beirao, a very prominent Angolan rapper has been sentenced to
five-and-a-half years in prison for planning a rebellion against
President Jose Eduardo dos Santos.
BBC reports that Luaty Beirao was sentenced by a court in the
capital, Luanda, along with 16 other activists who were given jail terms
of between two and eight years.
Amnesty International said they had been sentenced by a "kangaroo court".
The 17 were arrested in June after discussing a book about non-violent resistance at their book club.
Beirao, also known by his stage name Ikonoklasta, has been an
outspoken critic of the government, calling for a fairer distribution of
the southern African state's oil wealth.
He embarked on a five-week hunger strike in September in protest at his detention.
Luaty Beirao in court with the other activists
The judge convicted him of "rebellion against the president of the
republic, criminal association and falsifying documents", AFP news
agency reports.
The trial had prompted global outrage, with rights groups saying it
showed that Mr Dos Santos' government was becoming increasingly
repressive in its attempts to remain in power.
Human Rights Watch said the verdict was "a ridiculous scandal",
while Amnesty International described the defendants on Twitter as
"prisoners of conscience" who had been subjected to a "kangaroo court
trial [which] violated international standards".
Prosecutors defended the arrests, arguing that the 17 were planning
an uprising among students and workers "with incalculable
consequences".
The jailed activists, who belonged to a youth movement, had
previously held demonstrations demanding the resignation of Mr dos
Santos, who has been in power for 36 years.
Their book club had discussed the 1993 book by Gene Sharp called
From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation.
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