Karasira’s death in custody drew fresh scrutiny of how Rwanda handles government critics, particularly those whose work touches on Rwanda’s 1994 genocide. Rwandan authorities said he died on Wednesday at Nyarugenge District Hospital in Kigali as he was being set to be freed from jail, a timing that Human Rights Watch said raised immediate questions. Rights groups have repeatedly urged independent review of custody deaths in cases involving dissidents, and Karasira’s case quickly became another focal point.
Rwandan authorities said Karasira died after he took an overdose of his own medication, according to the AP report. Hillary Sengabo, a spokesman for the Rwandan prison system, told The New Times newspaper that Karasira “took chunks of medicine which he had been prescribed for a preexisting condition.” Human Rights Watch challenged that explanation, saying there were “many reasons to question the circumstances surrounding Aimable Karasira’s death in custody,” pointing to what it said were years of harassment and persecution by authorities.
In a statement, Clémentine de Montjoye, a representative of Human Rights Watch, said: “There are many reasons to question the circumstances surrounding Aimable Karasira’s death in custody, not least the years of harassment and persecution he experienced at the hands of the authorities.” She added that “the government bears the burden of proving that Karasira was not unlawfully killed.” The group urged the international community to pay attention and called for an independent probe led by a “body of experts.”
Human Rights Watch said Karasira had been arrested in 2021 and charged with several crimes relating to genocide denial and sowing division. The report said he was convicted of some offenses and acquitted of others, and that the prosecution appealed his acquittal on charges including genocide denial and justification, seeking a 30-year sentence. The case, Human Rights Watch said, had been nearing the end of a term Karasira had served while awaiting trial, with release scheduled for May 6.
Karasira also had a history of publicly discussing Rwanda’s genocide and its aftermath. In 2020, the AP report said, Karasira released a video on his YouTube channel describing losing relatives during the 1994 genocide and what came after it. Human Rights Watch said he later faced pressure from intelligence officials and threats from people he did not know, and it maintained documentation of the case.
A British historian, Michela Wrong, raised further concerns after the announcement of Karasira’s death. Wrong said on social platform X that Karasira “told visitors he was being beaten and tortured” and that “Prison eventually proved a fatal experience, as for so many in Rwanda.” She also said: “Now he’s supposedly died of an overdose of his prescription medicine.”
Human Rights Watch said Karasira’s death recalled an earlier custody death involving another high-profile government critic, Kizito Mihigo, who died in 2020. The group said both men had the “moral authority” that resonated with the public and confounded officials, and the comparison underscored its calls for an independent investigation into custody deaths.
Rwanda’s government, led by President Paul Kagame, has faced sustained international criticism over dissent. Kagame’s ruling party has been in power since 1994, and critics accuse the government of crushing opposition, including through actions that rights advocates say have led to opponents being jailed, fleeing, disappearing, or dying under unclear circumstances. The government, the AP report said, has also pursued policies aimed at bridging ethnic divisions, including through genocide-focused legal measures and education, and Rwanda has used formal penal code provisions to punish genocide and outlaw related ideology.