Recently-jailed Madagascan mother to confront Rio Tinto Board at London AGM | London Mining Network

Recently-jailed Madagascan mother to confront Rio Tinto Board at London AGM | London Mining Network

A mother-of-four who was recently jailed for 58 days for confronting mining injustice against her community in Madagascar has travelled to London to confront the board of controversial mining multinational Rio Tinto at their AGM on Tuesday.

Perle Zafinandro is the president of the FAGNOMBA association that has accused QMM-Rio Tinto of land-grabbing and environmental destruction in Madagascar. After having been involved in protests against the company since 2010, in March 2013, Perle and a number of other members of the organisation were arrested and imprisoned for 58 days.Perle will be supported at the AGM by Mamy Rakotontrainibe of the Paris-based Collective for the Defence of Malagasy Land.

They will be joined at the AGM by Roger Featherstone of Arizona Mining Reform Coalition and Adam Lee from the global union confederation IndustriALL.

The Arizona Mining Reform Coalition is working to stop Rio Tinto and BHP Billiton construct a copper mine on land of great environmental and recreational value, and sacred to Indigenous Apache people, in Arizona.