The International Press Institute (IPI) joined PEN South Africa in calling on Angola’s government to release and quash the convictions of 17 academics, students, artists and journalists accused of plotting a coup because they met to read and discuss a book on non-violent resistance to repressive regimes.

The defendants, part of the Luanda Book Club, were convicted in March of “preparatory acts of rebellion” and “criminal conspiracy”, and sentenced to prison terms ranging from two to eight years behind bars and fined 50,000 kwanza (€267).

They were arrested in June 2015 after they gathered in Angola’s capital to discuss journalist Domingos da Cruz’s unpublished manuscript “Tools to Destroy a Dictatorship and Avoiding a New Dictatorship – Political Philosophy for the Liberation of Angola”.

Da Cruz, a writer, journalist and university lecturer, was among those arrested and convicted. His manuscript was based on the book “From Dictatorship to Democracy: A Conceptual Framework for Liberation” by American academic Gene Sharp, which outlines peaceful ways to protest autocratic governments.

IPI and Arterial Network yesterday joined PEN South Africa’s leaders in an open letter to Angolan President Jose Eduardo dos Santos condemning the convictions and expressing concerns about fair trial irregularities and the failure to investigate allegations of torture and other ill treatment.

“We believe that there has been a serious miscarriage of justice which you as a leader in Africa will agree cannot be allowed to stand and that Angola should take the steps we propose in the attached statement immediately to avoid the world-wide condemnation that is steadily building up against your country over this travesty of legal proceedings,” the groups wrote in the letter.

Explaining that the Luanda Book Club members were acting within their rights of free expression by discussing peaceful means of protest, the signatories called for their immediate release.

The full text of the letter – as well as a related letter sent to South African President Jacob Zuma seeking his support in encouraging Angola’s government to release the Luanda Book Club members and quash their convictions – can be read at PEN South Africa’s website.