Last month, authorities arrested dozens after residents spoke out over damage caused by the use of dynamite in mining operations and infrastructure projects on the volcanic island of some 17 square kilometres (6.6 square miles), according to the NGOs.
On July 20, "Equatorial Guinea plunged Annobon into an internet and cellular blackout following recent demonstrations against environmental exploitation, restricting people's ability to exercise their human rights," the rights groups said in a statement on Tuesday.
"These demonstrations were initially met with arrests... Witnesses have also reported soldiers beating residents and shooting into crowds," the statement published on digital rights group Access Now's website added.
At least 33 people have been detained across the country as a result of the unrest, the statement said.
Located off the coast of Gabon, Annobon, population around 5,000, is only accessible by private plane or by a twice-monthly ferry.
Its community, which has previously complained about "persecution, repression, systematic discrimination, abandonment" by the central government, attempted to claim self-rule two years ago.
Early in July, more than a dozen residents wrote to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo urging him to resolve their complaints over the use of dynamite and the deterioration of Annobon's ecosystem.
At the time his son, Vice President Teodorin Obiang, insisted in a statement on his website that there was no question of stopping the work in progress "under any circumstances", notably the construction of an airport, a port and a hospital.
"Those responsible for any crimes of rebellion and sedition in Annobon will answer to the law for their actions," he said on X.
On Monday, state broadcaster TVGE reported that a first group of 37 people demonstrating and "demanding the independence of the island" had been brought before an examining magistrate in the capital Malabo.
They were "charged with alleged offences of slander and defamation, abuse of fundamental rights and undermining the constitutional order", the broadcaster added.
According to their lawyer Angel Obama Obiang, the 37 have all been remanded in custody at the capital's Black Beach prison, dubbed "infamous" by Amnesty International.
At the beginning of August, the government likewise ordered the suspension of tech billionaire Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet service throughout Equatorial Guinea.
Aged 82, President Obiang has ruled one of the world's most closed regimes for 45 years.
Re-elected in 2022 to a sixth seven-year term of office, he is, with the exception of monarchs, the world's longest-serving leader.
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