Simple road accident or suspicious death? A famous Rwandan journalist, critic of the regime of President Paul Kagame, died on Wednesday, his newspaper announced on Friday, the NGO Human Rights Watch referring to “suspicious circumstances”. John Williams Ntwali, 44, newspaper editor The Chronicleswas killed on Wednesday when a vehicle hit the motorbike on which he was riding as a passenger.
“Ntwali died in an accident on January 18 at 2:50 a.m. in Kimihurura”, a town near the capital Kigali, wrote The Chronicles on Twitter. “Ntwali was the passenger on the motorbike. He died instantly,” the newspaper continued. The driver of the vehicle was arrested and taken into custody, police told local media.
John Williams Ntwaku was often “the only journalist who dared to report on issues of political persecution and repression. He joins a long list of people who have defied the government and died in suspicious circumstances,” Lewis Mudge, Central Africa director at Human Rights Watch, wrote in a statement. “There are many reasons to question the theory of a car accident and it is essential that a prompt and effective investigation, drawing on international expertise, is carried out to determine whether or not he was murdered. “, he continued.
Dissenting voices
“Ntwali”, as many called him, had been behind bars numerous times during his career – sometimes for a few hours, sometimes several weeks. He had also founded the Pax TV channel on YouTube, mainly broadcasting interviews, in Kinyarwanda, with dissident voices.
Since the end of the genocide, which in 1994 left at least 800,000 mainly Tutsi dead, Rwanda has been ruled with an iron fist by Paul Kagame. Lauded for the successes of his development policy, the president is also criticized by human rights groups for his crackdown on free speech.