The Rwandan regime and dictator Paul Kagame have repeatedly issued public smears and chilling threats against Ingabire, who was previously imprisoned between 2011 and 2018 on baseless charges. On Feb. 21, in a speech to the Rwandan community in Paris, Rwandan Minister for National Unity and Civic Engagement Jean Damascène Bizimana branded Ingabire, a peaceful advocate for democracy, a “terrorist.”

The comments came ten days before Ingabire’s appearance before the Supreme Court to challenge the legal basis for her detention. She has been imprisoned since June 2025 on trumped-up charges, based on her alleged role in a training where her supporters read Serbian activist @SrdjaPopovic’s book “Blueprint for Revolution” on nonviolent civil resistance.

In November 2025, HRF submitted a joint petition with Freedom Now and the Lantos Foundation to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Ingabire’s behalf. HRF calls on the WGAD to investigate her case, determine that her detention is arbitrary, and demand her immediate release.