before the Supreme Tribunal. The Tribunal found that there was insufficient evidence to convict him. José Marcos Mavungo had been sentenced to six years in prison on 14 September 2015 for “rebellion”, a state security offence. He had been in detention since 14 March 2015 for involvement in organizing a peaceful demonstration. On 12 July, Cabinda Provincial Tribunal dismissed the charges against human rights defender and former prisoner of conscience Arão Bula Tempo. He had been arrested on 14 March 2015 and conditionally released two months later. He was charged with “rebellion” and “attempted collaboration with foreigners to constrain the Angolan state”, both categorized as state security offences. The charges were based on allegations that Arão Bula Tempo had invited foreign journalists to cover the 14 March protest being planned by José Marcos Mavungo. FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION Civil society organizations working on human rights issues, such as OMUNGA and SOSHabitat, faced undue restrictions on accessing their own funds, including from international sources. Banks prevented the organizations from accessing their accounts. This not only hampered their legitimate work but also undermined the right of associations to seek and secure resources, and had a broader impact on human rights in general. Despite their complaints to government institutions in charge of overseeing banking activities, no response had been received by the end of the year. FREEDOM OF ASSEMBLY The authorities frequently refused to allow peaceful demonstrations to take place, even though they do not require prior authorization in Angola. When demonstrations did take place, police often arbitrarily arrested and detained peaceful protesters. On 30 July, more than 30 peaceful activists were arbitrarily arrested and detained for up to seven hours in the city of Benguela. They were planning to take part in a peaceful demonstration organized by the Amnesty International Report 2016/17 Benguela Revolutionary Movement to demand effective measures against inflation. All were released without charge. A few days later, four of the activists were rearrested, again without a warrant. They were released on bail. They had not been formally charged by the end of the year, but the Public Prosecutor told them that they were suspected of aggravated robbery, drugtrafficking and violence against MPLA supporters.3 No one was held to account for the arbitrary arrests and detentions.4 FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION On 18 November, the National Assembly approved five draft bills (Press Law, Journalist’s Statute, Radio Broadcasting Law, Television Law and Social Communications Regulatory Body Law) that will further restrict freedom of expression. Opposition parties, the Union of Angolan Journalists and other civil society actors criticized the bills for enabling tighter government control over television, radio, the press, social media and the internet. Among the changes proposed was the creation of a social communications regulatory body with wide regulatory and oversight competences, including determining whether or not a given communication meets good journalistic practices. Such a provision would amount to prior censorship and would hinder the free flow of ideas and opinions. The majority of the regulatory body’s members were to be nominated by the ruling party and the party with the most seats in the National Assembly (MPLA in both cases), raising concerns that the body would be a political institution that silences critical voices and dissent. RIGHT TO HEALTH – YELLOW FEVER OUTBREAK An outbreak of yellow fever, first reported in Luanda in the last quarter of 2015, continued into the second half of 2016 and included suspected cases in all of the country’s 18 provinces. Of the 3,625 cases reported in this period, 357 resulted in death. The outbreak was made worse by a vaccine shortage at the 67