Mozambique carried out a brutal crackdown on post-election protests, Amnesty says
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Mozambique's security forces carried out a brutal, three-month crackdown on protesters after the country's election last year, a leading international rights group said Wednesday, citing local activists who alleged that more than 300 people were killed and more than 3,000 were injured in the unrest.
In its new report, Amnesty International called on Mozambican authorities to investigate the killings and all rights violations in the wake of the election, and to bring law enforcement officials responsible to justice.
Thousands of Mozambicans took part in waves of protests in the weeks after the Oct. 9 presidential and parliamentary election, where Daniel Chapo of the ruling Frelimo party was declared the winner amid allegations of rigging and election fraud raised by his challengers and international observers.
The protests were in support of Venancio Mondlane, who ran as an independent candidate but was supported by the opposition Podemos party.
The demonstrations intensified after the Oct. 18 killing of Mondlane's lawyer and a Podemos official, who were fatally shot by gunmen late at night while sitting in a car in Mozambique's capital, Maputo.
Mondlane denounced the slayings as a political assassination and called for 25 days of protests — one day for each of the 25 bullets that were fired at the car. Mondlane, citing fears for his own safety, left the country for two months but returned in January.
According to Amnesty's report, between Oct. 21 and Jan. 25, the Mozambique police and army used deadly force against largely peaceful marches and gatherings, shooting live ammunition, rubber bullets and tear gas canisters at protesters and bystanders.
Amnesty cited the Mozambican civil society group Plataforma DECIDE, which said 315 people died in the protests between Oct. 21 and Jan. 16 — a toll that far exceeded numbers that authorities have acknowledged. Police said in January that 96 people were killed in the protests during the three-month time period, including 17 officers.
'Police unlawfully used firearms and less lethal weapons, killing and injuring protesters and bystanders,' Amnesty said. 'The army also used force and less lethal weapons recklessly and unlawfully.'
Amnesty said its report was based on interviews with 28 people, including eyewitnesses, victims, victims' relatives, doctors and lawyers. Other rights groups have reported that at least 10 children were among those killed in the protests.
Police carried out mass arrests of protesters and bystanders, including teenagers, Amnesty said. Plataforma DECIDE said more than 4,000 people were arrested, most of them arbitrarily.
Amnesty also said it has evidence suggesting that Mozambican internet providers restricted access to social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram and the messaging service WhatsApp 'at key moments during the protests.'
In January, Chapo was sworn in as president. He and Mondlane met in March in an attempt at mediation, with the president promising to investigate protest deaths.
The Frelimo party has ruled Mozambique since independence from colonial ruler Portugal in 1975 and has often been accused of rigging elections by putting officials loyal to it in charge of electoral processes. A report by election observers from the European Union said last year's vote was marred by deliberate invalidation of opposition votes and alteration of polling results, as well as ballot box stuffing in favor of Frelimo.
Mozambican politics have been largely framed by a 15-year civil war between Frelimo and rebel group Renamo, which ended in 1992, with the rebel group later becoming an opposition party. The protests in support of Mondlane, previously a member of the Renamo party, were the largest threat to Frelimo's rule.
Protests died down after the crackdown but violence still persists.
Mondlane this week visited the port city of Quelimane, where gunmen on Sunday shot one of his main campaign organizers, Joel Amaral. He was shot three times, including once in the head, but survived and remains in an intensive care unit in the hospital.
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It was a killing that shocked India: Punjabi hip-hop star Sidhu Moose Wala shot dead through the windscreen of his car by hired gunmen. Within hours, a Punjabi gangster named Goldy Brar had used Facebook to claim responsibility for ordering the hit. But three years after the murder, no-one has faced trial - and Goldy Brar is still on the run, his whereabouts unknown. Now, BBC Eye has managed to make contact with Brar and challenged him about how and why Sidhu Moose Wala became a target. His response was coldly articulate. "In his arrogance, he [Moose Wala] made some mistakes that could not be forgiven," Brar told the BBC World Service. "We had no option but to kill him. He had to face the consequences of his actions. It was either him or us. As simple as that." On a warm May evening in 2022, Sidhu Moose Wala was taking his black Mahindra Thar SUV for its usual spin through dusty lanes near his village in the northern Indian state of Punjab when, within minutes, two cars began tailing him. CCTV footage later showed them weaving through narrow turns, sticking close. Then, at a bend in the road, one of the vehicles lurched forward, cornering Moose Wala's SUV against a wall. He was trapped. Moments later, the shooting began. Mobile footage captured the aftermath. His SUV was riddled with bullets, the windscreen shattered, the bonnet punctured. In trembling voices, bystanders expressed their shock and concern. "Someone get him out of the car." "Get some water." "Moose Wala has been shot." But it was too late. He was declared dead on arrival at hospital - hit by 24 bullets, a post-mortem would later reveal. The 28-year-old rapper, one of modern-day Punjab's biggest cultural icons, had been gunned down in broad daylight. 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But it was there, far from his village of Moosa - the inspiration for his rap name - that he reinvented himself as one of Punjabi music's most influential artists. In just five years, Moose Wala became the unmistakable voice of Punjabi hip-hop. With his signature swagger, flashy style, and lyrical grit, Moose Wala sang openly about identity and politics, guns and revenge, pushing the boundaries of what Punjabi music had been willing to say. He was fascinated by rapper Tupac Shakur, who had been murdered, aged 25, in 1996. "In terms of personality, I want to be like him," Moose Wala once told an interviewer. "The day he died, people cried for him. I want the same. When I die, people should remember that I was someone." Over a brief but explosive career, the singer spotlighted the darker undercurrents of India's Punjab region - gangster culture, unemployment, and political decay - while evoking a deep nostalgia for village life. Moose Wala was also a global force. With more than five billion views of his music videos on YouTube, a Top 5 spot in the UK charts, and collaborations with international hip-hop artists including Burna Boy, Moose Wala swiftly built a fan base stretching across India, Canada, the UK and beyond, powered by a diaspora that saw him as both icon and insurgent. But fame came at a cost. Despite his rising star and socially conscious lyrics, Moose Wala was drifting into dangerous territory. His defiant attitude, visibility, and growing influence had drawn the attention of Punjab's most feared gangsters. These included Goldy Brar, and Brar's friend Lawrence Bishnoi, who even then was in high-security jail in India. Not much is known about Brar, apart from the fact he is on the Interpol Red Notice list, and is a key operative in a network of gangsters operated by Bishnoi – orchestrating hits, issuing threats and amplifying the gang's reach. It is thought he emigrated to Canada in 2017, just a year after Moose Wala himself, and initially worked as a truck driver. Bishnoi, once a student leader steeped in Punjab's violent campus politics, has grown into one of India's most feared criminal masterminds. "The first [police] cases filed against Lawrence Bishnoi were all related to student politics and student elections… beating a rival student leader, kidnapping him, harming him," according to Jupinderjit Singh, deputy editor of Indian newspaper the Tribune. This led to a spell in jail which hardened him further, says Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, Assistant Inspector General of the Anti-Gangster Task Force of Punjab Police. "Once he was in jail, he started to get deeper into crime. Then he formed a group of his own. When it became an inter-gang thing, he needed money for survival. They need more manpower, they need more weapons. They need money for all that. So, for money, you have to get into extortion or crime." Now 31, Bishnoi runs his syndicate from behind bars - with dedicated Instagram pages and a cult-like following. "So while Bishnoi sits in jail, Brar handles the gangs," says Assistant Inspector General Chauhan. Securing BBC Eye's exchange with Brar took a year of chasing - cultivating sources, waiting for replies, gradually getting closer to the kingpin himself. But when we got through to Brar, the conversation cast new light on the question of how and why he and Bishnoi came to see Moose Wala as an enemy. One of the first revelations was that Bishnoi's relationship with Moose Wala went back several years, long before the singer's killing. "Lawrence [Bishnoi] was in touch with Sidhu [Moose Wala]. I don't know who introduced them, and I never asked. But they did speak," said Brar. "Sidhu used to send 'good morning' and 'good night' messages in an effort to flatter Lawrence." A friend of Moose Wala's, who spoke anonymously, also told us that Bishnoi had been in touch with Moose Wala as early as 2018, calling him from jail and telling him he liked his music. Brar told us that the "first dispute" between them came after Moose Wala had moved back to India. It began with a seemingly innocuous match of kabbadi - a traditional South Asian contact team sport - in a Punjabi village. Moose Wala had promoted the tournament which was organised by Bishnoi's rivals - the Bambiha gang - Brar told us, in a sport where match-fixing and gangster influence are rampant. "That's a village our rivals come from. He was promoting our rivals. That's when Lawrence and others were upset with him. They threatened Sidhu and said they wouldn't spare him," Brar told BBC Eye. Yet the dispute between Moose Wala and Bishnoi was eventually resolved by an associate of Bishnoi's called Vicky Middhukhera. 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