PEN America concerned about Rusesabagina, doesn’t care about his victims

The arrest and trial of Paul Rusesabagina, former hotelier and Hollywood-made hero, has exposed the arrogance and how out of touch some Westerners are when it comes to dealing with issues relating to Africa, and Rwanda in particular.

As the trial of Rusesabagina and co-accused of terrorism charges is edging closer to conclusion, and more evidence pinning him to his crimes is unearthed, his family and wide network of lobbyists are up in arms against the Rwandan government and pushing for his release.

They fabricate all sorts of lies including that Rusesabagina is in solitary confinement, that he is being tortured, that he is deprived of food and water, and that he is about to die. Rusesabagina’s family and allies have skilfully exploited the gullible global north media, human rights organisations like Human Rights Watch (HRW). They also used the US Senate and the Belgian Parliament to pressure the Rwandan government for his unconditional release.

The latest to jump in the bandwagon of people who fell prey to those lies is Summer Lopez, PEN America’s senior director of free expression programmes. In his statement titled “PEN America gravely concerned over Rwanda’s treatment of Paul Rusesabagina” dated July 1, Lopez wrote: “PEN America is alarmed by recent reports regarding the trial and mistreatment in detention of Paul Rusesabagina, author of An Ordinary Man, his memoir of his experience as a manager of the Hotel des Mille Collines during the Rwandan genocide, as depicted in the film Hotel Rwanda.”

What is perplexing about this clamouring for Rusesabagina’s immediate release is that he is accused of perpetrating terrorist acts on Rwandan soil, a crime also punishable by law internationally. They know it is illegal to interfere in a judicial process as per their own standards.

In his statement, Lopez also repeats the debunked lies of Rusesabagina’s family that he faces grave mistreatment in prison. However, in the wake of such allegations made by his family, the US State Department refuted those claims, writing: “Our Embassy in Kigali spoke with Rwandan authorities, as well as Belgian diplomats and Mr. Rusesabagina’s lawyers, who have all stated that Mr. Rusessabagina continues to have access to food, water, and medicine.”