By Mabinty M Kamara
Human Rights Defenders Network Sierra Leone HRDN-SL has in a press release urged the government, especially the office of the Antony General and Minister of Justice, to immediately acquit and discharge Hassan Samba Yarjah, a senior staff of the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone (HRC-SL).
Alphonsus Gbanie, Executive Secretary of the HRDN-SL, told Politico that the arrest was as a result of a press release written by the by HRC-SL that was read on radio by the detainee which the police deemed as incitement with the tendency to erupt chaos.
“During the program, some callers were raising concerns about the illegal sacking of the vice president. If you listen to the recording of that program, you can notice that Hassan did not say anything in that regard. Yet he was arrested for incitement, disorderly behaviour and conspiracy,” he said.
He added that after the radio program, there were some political protests that were going on in Kenema on the 27 of April by the Sierra Leone Peoples Party (SLPP) and Hassan happened to have been there to perform official duties of monitoring the activities. He said it was at that point that he was arrested.
The HRDNSL expressed grave concern on the prolonged trial of Hassan since the case was charged to court. Mr. Gbanie said Hassan was tortured by the police at the time of his arrest
“We did not indicate that in the press release because we want to concentrate more on the prolonged trial,” he said.
Delay in the justice delivery system in Sierra Leone has always been a thorny issue for those who go in conflict with the law. This has led to mass overcrowding in correctional centres.
Ibrahim Tommy, Chief Executive Director of Centre for accountability and the Rule of Law (CARL), is one of the human rights campaigners who have been advocating on the justice delivery system in the country, among other issues. He has also pointed to the fact that the inmates at the Pademba Road Correctional centre have outweighed the original capacity it was built for and noted that that was partly due to the delay in trial of accused persons.
“Imagine the Freetown maximum correctional centre was created to accommodate a maximum of three hundred inmates, now we have five thousand and five inmates. Yes that’s overcrowding and the last time I checked about 50% of the inmates were on pretrial or at least those waiting for their trial to conclude,” Tommy said in an earlier interview with Politico.
The HRDNSL release said the arrest, charging and prosecution of a senior staff of the HRC-SL was in contravention of section five of the human rights Act of 2014. “No action, suit or other legal proceedings shall lie against any person who is or was a member or employee of the commission in respect of any decision taken or any act done or omitted to be done in good faith in the performance of any function under this act,” the section reads.
Mr. Gbanie also said that if the government refused to pay attention to their concerns, then they would take another line of action.
“We will engaged parliament for interpretation because the commission was established by an Act of parliament, so going against it means that you are undermining the legislative arm of government in the country,” he said.
The Human Rights Defenders Network Sierra Leone (HRDN-SL) is a coalition of civil society organisations and individuals working in the field of human rights with specific focus on defending human rights defenders.
Assistant superintendent Ibrahim Kamara, the police media boss, told Politico he could not remember the case, when contacted for a comment the issue of alleged torture raised by HRDN-SL.
(C) Politico 23/06/16
