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ONE OF THE MANY REPORTS ON
ABUSES AGAINST THE PRESS IN SIERRA LEONE DURING JUNTA RULE FROM MAY 25,
1997 TO FEBRUARY 1998.
(CPJ/IFEX)- On 11 October 1997, John Foray, acting editor of the
newspaper "Democrat", and freelancer Abdul Kposwa were beaten and
arrested by army officers who then took them to Pademba Road prison
where they were detained without charge. Elsewhere, Umaru Fofana, a
freelancer for the "Vision" newspaper and a stringer for the British
Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), was shot in the leg and tortured by army
officers who claimed he was suspected of reporting for former President
Tejan Kabbah's clandestine radio station, FM 98.1. Fofana was treated at
the Military Hospital in Freetown and released.
On 10 October, secret police arrested freelancer Abdul Salam Timbo on
charges of subversion. Information on his whereabouts are not yet
available.
On 8 October, freelancer Donald Davis was arrested and detained at
Pademba road prison on charges of subversion. That same day, three armed
men and a civilian of the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) came to
the residence of "Punch" newspaper editor David Tambaryoh to arrest him
for aggravated assault of Ibrahim Seaga Shaw, editor of the "Expo
Times". Tambaryoh was charged with subversion. The men claimed that the
arrest was ordered by one Lieutenant Jalloh and the President's office,
via a Mr. Njauja, head of the CID. Tambaryoh refused to leave his house
until they presented an arrest warrant. The soldiers left his house and
returned in fifteen minutes without a warrant, a truck- load of soldiers
and a taxi to escort Tambaryoh to the CID offices. Shaw, who has
developed close ties with the military junta, followed the convoy.
At the CID, Tambaryoh was informed that Shaw filed the assault
charges and that the subversive activity charges were a result of his
alleged communication with ousted President Kabbah, Ambassador to the
United Nations James Jonah, and Ambassador John Ernest Leigh in
Washington to whom Tambaryoh was accused of forwarding sensitive
information. He denied all charges but was detained for 72 hours on 10
October. Soon after Tambaryoh's release on unspecified conditions, he
was informed that his two security guards had stopped by the "Punch"
offices looking for him and his deputy director. Tambaryoh is currently
in hiding.
During Tambaryoh's detention, his wife, who is also in hiding,
transported some of her husband's belongings to her elder sister's house
then removed it to a safer place. That night, armed men arrived at
Tambaryoh's sister-in-law's house and demanded his property. Although
she denied having it, the soldiers looted her house and raped her and
her daughter twice.
Fellow journalists believe that the false charges of aggravated
assault against Tambaryoh resulted from a verbal altercation between
Tambaryoh and Shaw during the 6 October editorial meeting of the Sierra
Leonian Association of Journalists (SLAJ). At the meeting, SLAJ reminded
the 28 editors present that SLAJ had issued a statement condemning the
military junta and rejecting its authority. Recently, the regime had
ordered all newspapers to re-register, and some SLAJ members felt that
since they already registered in January, there was no need for them to
register again. The editors voted on the matter, and only three of the
twenty-eight editors were in favour of re-registration. Shaw was visibly
angry at this outcome and he and Tambaryoh got into a verbal
altercation.
Two executive members of SLAJ, Foday Fofana, editor of the "Concord"
newspaper and Acting Secretary of SLAJ, Fallah Ensa-Ndemah, are expected
to be arrested by army officers on counts of subversion, in connection
to SLAJ's vehement statement against the re-registration of newspapers
and for statements against the interest of the state. Both have gone
underground.
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