Four human rights organisations have called on President Ernest Bai Koroma to free eight people detained without charge on his orders since 24 October last year.
The two women and six men from Kono District were first detained at the Criminal Investigations Department in Freetown before they were taken to the maximum security prison.
In a joint statement, the organisations – AdvocAid, Amnesty International, Prison Watch and the Centre for Accountability and Rule of Law – say the detainees “have no warrants or documentation supporting their detention in prison and therefore no date when they will be released”.
They say they are “deeply concerned by the continued detention of these men and women [who]….are without recourse to any of the constitutional safeguards provided under section 17 of Sierra Leone’s Constitution, such as the right to be brought before a competent criminal court within the constitutionally specified timescale” and will “remain so detained until it pleases His Excellency to order their release”.
The groups quote the police as saying that they have “no obligation to investigate the matter or charge these individuals because it is an Executive order”.
The eight were among a group of 34 people arrested in connection with a riot that took place in Kono in October over a contested move to collect a sick woman whose family was opposed to and resisted it. The nonagenarian died hours after the melee which her family blamed on the police for opening fire around her house.
Even though two civilians were shot dead allegedly by police, the rights groups are concerned that no one has been arrested for those killings.
In a seven-point call, they urge the president to release the eight or confirm his refusal to do so in which case the detainees can seek a review of any such refusal.
They also call on the Attorney-General to, alternatively, charge them to court without further delay “if there is sufficient evidence” for such.
The groups urge the Chief Justice to set up an independent and impartial tribunal to look into the matter, or for the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone to intervene.
“AdvocAid, which supports access to justice for women and girls, is particularly alarmed by the continued detention of the two women who say they were not involved in the incident that led to the issue of the presidential detention order and were not told at the time of their arrest the reason for their detention. They have never been asked to make a statement to the police” the statement says.
© Politico 21/01/15
