Linda Melvern

Linda Melvern is a British investigative journalist. For several years she worked for The Sunday Times (UK), including on the investigative Insight Team. Since leaving the newspaper she has written seven books of non-fiction. She is a former Honorary Professor of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, in the Department of International Politics. For the past twenty years she has concentrated on the circumstances of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. She was the second vice-President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.[1] Melvern was a consultant to the Military One prosecution team at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), and a part of her archive of documents on the planning and preparation of the genocide form a part of the documentary evidence used by the prosecution in this trial. Professor Filip Reyntjens describes her as one of the "staunch defenders of the ruling Rwandan Patriotic Front".[2] In 2017, Rwandan President Paul Kagame presented Melvern with the Igihango National Order of Outstanding Friendship.[2]

In 2020, Verso published her book Intent to Deceive: Denying the Rwandan Genocide.[3] Alex Russell published a favorable review of the book in Financial Times,[4] while Roméo Dallaire also praises it in The Globe and Mail.[5] In a critical review of the book, Reyntjens writes that the book suffers from confirmation bias, selective use of sources, factual errors, and overtly favoring the RPF. He also states,

A conversation on facts and their interpretation becomes impossible when false accusations are levelled against participants, for instance, by branding them as genocide deniers, merely because they have a different reading of events. Throughout the book, several scholars and other writers, including the author of this review, are accused of denial, although they unambiguously acknowledge the historical fact that the Rwandan Tutsi have been the victims of genocide.[2]

However, Reyntjens also writes that the book is well written and "offers interesting and at times novel insights into a number of events".[2] Susan Thomson also criticized the book, stating that it is "a regurgitation of the government line, rooted in a selective reading of history". She states that Melvern fails to distinguish between actual genocide denial and non-adherence to the version of history preferred by the RPF, as well as ignoring the RPF's use of laws against "genocide denial" to target critics.[6]