ACTIVIST WHO INSPIRED ‘HOTEL RWANDA’ FREED
Rwandan authorities on Friday freed human rights activist Paul Rusesabagina, whose life inspired “Hotel Rwanda,” the Hollywood film about the nation’s 1994 genocide, U.S. officials said.
The onetime hotel manager was sentenced to 25 years on terrorism charges in 2021 after authorities tricked him into boarding a plane that secretly took him to Kigali, Rwanda’s capital. His imprisonment was strongly opposed by U.S. officials and had set back bilateral relations between Kigali and Washington, which spent months prodding the Rwandan government privately and publicly to release him.
Rusesabagina was released to the residence of Qatar’s ambassador to Rwanda, where he will reside for a few days before flying to Qatar and then the United States, where he is a legal permanent resident, said senior administration officials, who spoke to reporters on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive arrangement.
“We are gratified that Paul Rusesabagina has been released from prison in Rwanda,” said one of the U.S. officials, who credited Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan with working with Rwandan officials to secure Rusesabagina’s release.
Rusesabagina’s case cast a spotlight on growing opposition to Rwandan President Paul Kagame, once praised for ending Rwanda’s genocide and for his focus on developing the tiny East African nation, but increasingly criticized for his authoritarian rule.
The hit movie “Hotel Rwanda” was inspired by Rusesabagina’s experiences as a hotel manager protecting Tutsi guests from Hutu death squads.
Rusesabagina and Kagame were once cordial, but over the years, Rusesabagina became a vocal critic of Kagame, saying he was stifling political opposition. The president hit back by accusing Rusesabagina of exaggerating his role during the genocide.
In 2020, Rusesabagina was arrested and faced a battery of charges connected with founding and supporting an opposition group — the National Liberation Front — that was blamed for attacks that had killed civilians.