Equatorial Guinea - January 2023

Julio Obama Mefuman, a prominent political dissident and dual national of Spain and Equatorial Guinea, died in prison in January. His cause of death was not immediately known. He had been kidnapped from South Sudan in 2020 by agents of the Equatorial Guinea government who alleged that he had participated in a coup attempt. A week before Mefuman died, it was reported that a high court in Spain (the Audiencia Nacional) had opened an investigation into three senior security officials in Equatorial Guinea who are alleged to have led the kidnapping and torture of Mefuman and an associate (who is also a Spanish citizen). One of the individuals under investigation is Carmelo Ovono Obiang, a son of President Obiang. 

Sources: El Pais, The Observer, Agence France Presse