CPJ on Tuesday joined about 100 other human rights and press freedom organizations in a joint statement calling on the Rwandan government to ensure an “independent, impartial, and effective investigation” into the death of journalist John Williams Ntwali.
Authorities said that Ntwali died on January 18 in a road accident in Kigali. However, the organizations note, “two weeks after the alleged accident, Rwandan authorities have failed to provide a police report, the exact location of the alleged accident, any photo or video evidence, or detailed information on the others involved in it.”
Ntwali, editor of the privately owned newspaper The Chronicles and founder of the YouTube channel Pax TV-Ireme News, frequently received threats in connection to his critical journalism. Given Rwanda’s failure to investigate past “suspicious deaths of political opponents or high-profile critics,” the organizations call for international experts on arbitrary killings to be involved in the investigation.