His story was advised within the Oscar-nominated movie “Lodge Rwanda,” and he acquired quite a few awards for his bravery and humanitarian work.
Now as consultant heads of state, together with the Prince of Wales, descend on Rwanda for the Commonwealth Heads of Authorities Assembly (CHOGM) Monday, they need to not flip a blind eye to the host nation’s human rights violations.
Whereas it’s unhappy that the CHOGM is being held this yr in a rustic that doesn’t adhere to the Commonwealth’s core values and rules, we should see this as a chance to shine a light-weight on Rwanda’s lack of democracy.
Our household is asking Prince Charles to not stay silent to this actuality and to not shake the hand of the tyrant who’s holding our father as a political prisoner.
The USA just lately categorized our father as a “wrongful detainee,” noting the large irregularities in his seize and trial.
Our father was kidnapped virtually two years in the past, lured from our house in San Antonio, Texas, via Dubai, the place he was tricked into boarding a flight to Kigali. An agent of the Rwandan Authorities, posing as a Bishop, requested our father to come back to Burundi and communicate to church teams about reconciliation. Having boarded a airplane in Dubai anticipating to fly to Burundi, he was drugged, waking solely to understand he had landed in Kigali, Rwanda — a spot to which he would by no means voluntarily return.
The Rwandan authorities has rejected all criticism of those processes, extremely claiming that it has acted in a fashion in step with worldwide regulation.
Now our father has been sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, which shall be a life sentence for a person who final week turned 68. Our solely want for his birthday is to convey him house protected to us. He’s a most cancers survivor with hypertension whose well being is deteriorating whereas he’s incarcerated. His present signs, together with a weak proper arm and facial paralysis, point out that he could have had a number of strokes already whereas in jail, however these go untreated.
Whereas it’s nonetheless incomprehensible to us, and so many victims of the Rwandan regime around the globe, that Rwanda was given the privilege of internet hosting the CHOGM this yr, its presence in Kigali additionally gives a novel alternative.
The Prince of Wales and different CHOGM leaders can select to deal with their shared values and rules and push these members who don’t uphold these values in follow to take action. This consists of Kagame’s Rwanda. Though Prince Charles shouldn’t be a political determine, he can search dialogue behind closed doorways, and even ask to go to our father.
Rwanda has many associates within the CHOGM, each international locations and people, and we urge the Prince of Wales and all the different leaders assembled to not keep silent and to ask Kagame to offer our father with a compassionate launch now, earlier than it’s too late.
Our father saved us in 1994. We plead with the worldwide neighborhood to take this chance to avoid wasting him.