Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that Rwanda's government has murdered, attacked, and disappeared critics outside its boundaries in a campaign of "extraterritorial repression" that must be opposed by the international community.
Since the 1994 genocide, Paul Kagame has been de facto leader of the tiny East African nation, and the veteran president is aiming to extend his iron-fisted control in elections next year.
To preserve control, the country's ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front "responded forcefully and often violently" to any perceived threat to its dominance.
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"Such measures are not limited to critics and opponents within the country," the US-based rights group said in a study covering the years since Kagame's latest election victory in 2017.
The investigation "documented over a dozen cases of killings, kidnappings, and attempted kidnappings, enforced disappearances, and physical attacks" on Rwandans in exile and efforts to deport dissidents from abroad back home.
Rwandan government spokesperson Yolande Makolo told AFP: "Human Rights Watch continues to present a distorted picture of Rwanda that only exists in their imagination."
The HRW report was released as the Supreme Court in London heard three days of hearings on the British government's appeal against a verdict that blocked its intentions to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda.
"These violent abuses are alarmingly frequent, particularly in African countries and in countries where the Rwandan government has an active presence, including a military presence," the report said.
In some cases, these countries "have colluded with Rwanda -- or at the very least to have turned a blind eye" to these acts being carried out on their soil.
