Human rights Kigali accused of systematic repression of dissidents and their families

Rwandan authorities are coordinating a systematic campaign of repression at home and abroad against political activists, suspected dissidents and their family members, according to a major Human Rights Watch (HRW) report, raising questions about plans by the UK government to send asylum seekers there.

- Michela Wrong

The US-based rights group details an alleged campaign of extraterritorial killings, kidnapping and intimidation, as well as arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances on Rwandan soil.

The 115-page report - which covers the years since 2017 - also accuses the government in Kigali of routinely abusing global judicial and police mechanisms, including the Interpol system, in its determination to return perceived enemies to Rwanda.

"This report exposes the reality of the Rwandan regime," said the opposition leader, Victoire Ingabire, who spent eight years in prison on terrorism charges. "The principles of civilian government have been completely ignored in Rwanda," Ingabire told the Guardian by phone from Rwanda.

HRW calls on the UK to rescind the migration and economic development partnership, which Braverman's predecessor Priti Patel signed with Rwanda last year, in light of the "real risks" asylum seekers would face, to investigate threats to Rwandan residents in Britain, and to make future aid to the African state conditional on significant change to its "repressive practices".