Phil ya Nangoloh

Who is Phil ya Nangoloh?

Phil ya Nangoloh is a Namibian human rights activist. He heads the organisation Namrights, formerly The National Society for Human Rights.

In search of better educational opportunities ya Nangoloh left Namibia in 1974. He worked as a temporary agricultural worker in Angola and was later imprisoned in Zaire under the pretext of spying for Rhodesia. As a consequence, he was handed over to SWAPO and transferred to Lusaka. In January 1975 he joined the party and became a member of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia.

Later he was sent to the Soviet Union in order to complete a degree in radio engineering. By a visit to Finland, he came under renewed suspicion of espionage and was finally expelled from the Soviet Union. Then trying to apply for political asylum in Switzerland, failed. In 1981 he went to the U.S. to grant as part of the UN Council for Namibia to study electrical engineering. The late 80s he returned to Namibia. There he was standing up, among other things for the release of detainees by SWAPO in exile.

In 1989 he founded the National Society for Human Rights of Namibia now known as Namrights which has since controversially reported on a variety of political and social issues.