UN expert to collect information on freedoms

A UN human rights expert on freedom of opinion and expression is to spend this week in Equatorial Guinea, meeting a cross-section of stakeholders at the invitation of the government. Special Rapporteur Ambeyi Ligabo who left for the country on Sunday would meet with the country's authorities, including senior government officials and magistrates, a UN statement said on Friday. He would also hold talks with human rights officials and representatives of civil society, the media and the UN system. Ligabo was mandated by the UN commission on Human rights to gather information, including through in-country missions on discrimination, threats or use of violence and harassment directed at anyone seeking to exercise or promote the right to free opinion and expression. The government of Equatorial Guinea has come under criticism from the international community in recent months over allegations of torture, repression and harassment of its perceived critics. There was an international outcry in July at the death of an opposition political activist Juan Ondo Nguema, who had been sentenced to over six years in jail for allegedly plotting to overthrow the government. Local opposition parties, international human rights groups and foreign media blamed his death on injuries resulting from torture during police investigations. The government said such claims were baseless. The ruling Democratic Party of Equatorial Guinea (PDGE, Partido Democratico Guinea Ecuatorial) denied the torture claims, saying there was no attempt by the government or prison authorities to subject detainees to repression or harassment.