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Samuel Baker BYANSI

@SamuelBaker_B55,211 subscribers

Leading @M28Investigates. Investigative Researcher, Journalist & Author “From Watchdogs to Traitors”. Laureate, Difference Day Freedom of Expression Award 2025.

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Imana yaduhaye umugisha, itwongera amaboko, umuryango irawagura. Umwana ni Tsinda. Kurikayo mu reba Jocelyne Uwase 💕💕 kandi wakoze cyane.

Imana yaduhaye umugisha, itwongera amaboko, umuryango irawagura. Umwana ni Tsinda. Kurikayo mu reba Jocelyne Uwase 💕💕 kandi wakoze cyane.

73,075 次观看

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TWO journalists from the same Rwandan YouTube channel “Imbarutso ya Demokarasi” have disappeared within 72 hours of each other. Both covered stories Paul Kagame’s regime does not want told. This is not coincidence. On May 1, 2026, Augustin Nsanzimana, cameraman & editor for the channel, sent a final message to contacts: Rwanda Investigation Bureau agents had entered his home in City of Kigali. He has not been heard from since. Niyonshuti Emmanuel, the journalist and presenter behind the channel, was threatened after the outlet published a story in which sources alleged multiple deaths of inmates inside the Gikondo Transit Centre (Kwa Kabuga), the facility Human Rights Watch has documented for years of arbitrary detention and abuse. Yesterday he stopped responding. Calls go unanswered. I am treating this as a second enforced disappearance from the same outlet, in the same week. Imbarutso ya Demokarasi was one of the few Kinyarwanda-language platforms covering public service failures and providing space for opposition voices, including Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza, currently in detention. The outlet is now effectively silenced. This is not new. Rwandan poet and YouTube creator Innocent Bahati disappeared on February 7, 2021, after publishing critical work. He has never been found. Rwanda has a documented graveyard of disappeared journalists and creators. Augustin and Niyonshuti are the latest entries, if nothing is done on time. Enforced disappearance is a crime under international law. Rwanda is a state party to the ICCPR. Rwanda Investigation Bureau & Rwanda National Police must immediately disclose the whereabouts of both men, guarantee their physical safety, and grant access to their families and legal counsel. Accountability cannot wait. Cc: CPJ Africa RSF, Forbidden Stories PEN International, Amnesty Eastern Africa Media Defence

Samuel Baker BYANSI

30,719 次观看 • 1 个月前

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I received the 2025 Difference Day Honorary Title for Freedom of Expression from VUB & Université libre de Bruxelles. In my remarks / acceptance speech Before the rectors of both universities, academics, journalists, and human rights defenders, I used that moment not to celebrate, but to name contradictions. I was honored for speaking freely, while in Rwanda - the country I come from - those who dare to speak are silenced, imprisoned, exiled, or killed. I spoke the names that Kagame’s regime tries to erase like Kizito Mihigo, Innocent Bahati, Boniface Twagirimana, Diane Shima Diane Rwigara & John Williams Ntwali. These are not isolated tragedies / cases. They reflect a system built on fear, repression, and the elimination of dissent. I also reminded the audience that Kagame’s regime extends its violence beyond Rwanda’s borders into the Democratic Republic of Congo, where millions have died in conflicts fueled by Kigali’s direct involvement, documented by the United Nations and human rights groups. Rwanda is too often praised abroad as a “success story.” Clean streets and growth statistics are showcased while the prisons, disappearances, and wars are ignored. This is not stability - it is repression, marketed to the world. My message was clear: Donors must attach real human rights conditions to aid, Journalists must investigate disappearances and political prisoners, Universities must preserve testimonies and provide space to exiled scholars, Policymakers must stop enabling repression and confront it with action. Freedom of expression is not a gift. It is not a privilege granted by governments. It is a right. It is a lifeline. And in Kagame’s Rwanda, it remains under attack. Watch my full speech here 📽️.

Samuel Baker BYANSI

85,514 次观看 • 8 个月前