STATE OF PRESS FREEDOM IN SOUTHERN AFRICA REPORT 2021 28 JOURNALISTS’ SAFETY AND PROTECTIONS In 2021, Angola recorded an escalation in media violations. For example, in April, police officers arrested Jorge Manuel, a reporter for the radio station Rádio Despertar, while he was covering protests against the eviction of people in the municipality of Sequele, in Luanda, the capital, by local authorities. He was detained for five days after which he was released on condition that he reports to the police station every 15 days, while authorities investigate whether he was part of the protest against the evictions. Police officers confiscated Manuel’s phone and recorder during his arrest and did not return them after his release. In other high profile cases, on 23 April 2021, Angolan journalist Francisco Rasgado, director and founder of Chela Press newspaper, was arrested by order of the Benguela District Court, following criminal proceedings brought by the former provincial governor, Rui Falcão Pinto de Andrade. (4) On 13 September 2021, the Provincial Court of Luanda convicted Carlos Alberto, editor of the news website A Denúncia’, on charges of criminal defamation, denunciation for damages, and violation of press freedom. The charges were prompted by a complaint filed by Angolan Deputy Attorney General Luís Liz, in response to a 15 May video by A Denúncia about his alleged illegal appropriation of land for a shopping centre. The court sentenced Alberto to two years in prison and a fine of 110 million kwanzas (US$176,000), but allowed him to remain free and suspended the sentence for 20 days to allow Alberto to make a public apology, according to these sources. The court required him to publish an apology every five days on his Facebook page for 45 days to have the fine and prison sentence lifted. DIGITAL RIGHTS AND THE EXPANSION OF THE COMMUNICATIONS SECTOR Internet freedom in Angola improved in the first years of the administration of Lourenço. By the end of 2021, Angola had three mobile phone companies, Movicel, UNITEL and state company Angola Telecom. UNITEL is the largest telecommunications operator in Angola, with a 73% market share. In December 2021, Africell became the fourth phone company to enter the Angolan market. Internet penetration in Angola represents 36% of the total population. From this perspective, these user numbers reveal that 22 million people in Angola were not using the internet at the beginning of 2022, meaning