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Reacting to Angolan authorities’ continued detention of Serrote Oliviera, also known as General Nila, the leader of the National Union for Total Revolution of Angola (UNTRA), Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa’s regional office Tigere Chagutah said;.

“250 days since General Nila’s shooting and subsequent arrest and detention, Angolan authorities have failed to present credible evidence against him while repeatedly obstructing his lawyers’ access to the case file, raising serious concerns about fair trial guarantees and due process.

“His case illustrates the Angolan authorities’ escalating repression of activists, punishing and silencing dissent with impunity.

250 days since General Nila’s shooting and subsequent arrest and detention, Angolan authorities have failed to present credible evidence against him while repeatedly obstructing his lawyers’ access to the case file, raising serious concerns about fair trial guarantees and due process.

Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for ESARO

“Pending his release, Amnesty International calls on authorities to ensure full respect for General Nila’s fair trial rights, in line with international standards, including promptly providing his lawyers with full access to all documents related to his case and continued detention.”

Background

In recent years, General Nila has been a prominent voice against injustice in Angola, organizing peaceful demonstrations and advocating for the release of arbitrarily detained activists. General Nila has been detained several times during peaceful demonstrations that had been notified to the authorities.

UNTRA was among the groups that organized protests in July 2025, in response to an increase in fuel prices and transportation costs.

General Nila was shot by security forces when he stopped to film/livestream the first day of a strike in Luanda while on his way to visit a relative in hospital. Since his arrest, his case has been characterized by a lack of transparency over the legal basis for his continued detention, undermining confidence in the justice process and raising concerns about his arbitrary detention.

The post Angola: Authorities must release arbitrarily detained activist General Nila appeared first on Amnesty International.

Responding to the civil complaint  filed before France’s War Crimes Unit by French-Lebanese artist and filmmaker Ali Cherri and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) regarding a November 2024 Israeli military attack on a civilian building in central Beirut which killed seven civilians, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Heba Morayef said: 

Amnesty’s research into the attack found no evidence of a military target in the vicinity at the time of the attack and concluded the strike should be investigated as a war crime. 

Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa

“Amidst a longstanding pattern of serious violations of international humanitarian law by Israeli forces in Lebanon, and as Israel once again steps up its attacks, if War Crimes Unit prosecutors open an investigation into this  complaint, this would offer a rare opportunity to examine Israel’s actions in a European court given the general impunity it usually enjoys. This case could offer some form of accountability and reparation to victims of this deadly attack. The strike on the residential building, killed at least seven civilians, destroyed several people’s homes. Amnesty’s research into the attack found no evidence of a military target in the vicinity at the time of the attack and concluded the strike should be investigated as a war crime. 

“Since October 2023, Amnesty International has documented serious and repeated violations of international humanitarian law by parties to the conflict in Lebanon, including numerous Israeli airstrikes on residential buildings that killed scores of civilians. More than a year later, none of the victims of these attacks have received justice or reparations and with the renewed intensification of hostilities, people in Lebanon are being forced again to witness their family members being killed, their homes destroyed, and their safety threatened. 

“Given Israel’s escalating attacks and longstanding impunity, states should urgently use universal or other extraterritorial jurisdiction to investigate serious violations of international humanitarian law and, where evidence permits, prosecute those responsible for war crimes in national courts.  

The Lebanese government should cooperate with the proceedings and take other measures to seek accountability for Israeli’s serious violations of international humanitarian law in Lebanon, including by accepting the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction, to ensure credible investigations and meaningful redress for victims.” 

Background 

In February 2026, Amnesty International published an investigation into the 26 November 2024 strike on the Cherri building in the Nouweiri neighbourhood of Beirut, carried out just hours before a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect. This attack killed Ali Cherri’s parents, Nadira Hayek (78) and Mahmoud Naim Cherri (88) and their Iive-in helper Birki Negesa, along with at least four other civilians, all residents of the same building. 

The organization found no effective advance warnings were issued, Israel identified no military target before or after the strike, and no military objectives were present in the vicinity at the time. These findings provide reasonable grounds to conclude that the strike violated international humanitarian law and should be investigated as a war crime. 

Since 2 March 2026, hostilities between Israel and Hezbollah have intensified significantly across Lebanon, marked by sustained Israeli airstrikes, ground invasion and mass evacuation orders.  

According to Lebanon’s Ministry of Public Health on 1 April, 1,318 people have been killed since then—including 125 children and 91 women—and 3,935 others wounded with more than 1.2 million people newly displaced. 

The post Lebanon: Civil complaint in France a rare opportunity to hold Israel to account over deadly strike on a civilian building   appeared first on Amnesty International.