Rogue Sierra Leone diplomat may die in jail

A British cancer expert, treating the disgraced and jailed Sierra Leonean diplomat Dr. Arthur Porter, says his client will not live to see the end of his fraud trial unless it happens within a year. Recently, publications in Montreal, Canada and Panama City reported that Dr. Porter’s transfer to one of Panama’s most dangerous prisons in June this year did not bode well for any medical treatment. The La Joya complex, which houses about 7,000 inmates, is known for unsanitary conditions, overcrowding and poor medical care, the papers report. Dr. Porter, 56, did not respond to initial chemotherapy and suffered a setback in February when a blood clot moved into his lungs, Dr. Sikora said, adding that although he recovered from the clot and bounced back from cancer, thanks to an experimental drug called Crizotinib, resistance to the drug usually kicked in after six to eight months. “We’ve been blessed with the response, but the response usually lasts six to eight months,” said Dr. Sikora, a partner in a Bahamian cancer clinic with Dr. Porter, whom he first met 35 years ago. “He’s seriously ill. Nothing has changed on that.” But some observers have expressed doubts as to the precision of the claim by Dr. Sikora, an oncologist who once headed the World Health Organisation’s cancer programme, who said that Dr. Porter had enjoyed improved short-term health but feared that the terminal cancer would kill him between six months and one year. Dr. Sikora is no stranger to controversial prognoses. He is the cancer expert who predicted in 2009 that Pan Am bomber Abdel Baset al-Megrahi would die within three months. The prognosis opened the door for Scottish justice officials to release him to Libya, where he lived three more years. Meanwhile, moments after calling Dr. Porter in a Panamanian prison to obtain permission to release his findings, Dr. Sikora told the media that: “The prognosis is not good. He’ll never go to trial.” Dr. Sikora offered the timeline despite “vowing to never make another one publicly” after he erroneously predicted the quick death of the Lockerbie bomber in a high-profile embarrassment. He said he had followed Dr. Porter’s case since carcinoma was found in his lungs during treatment for a persistent cough. He said he felt compelled to speak publicly after a high-ranking prison official in Panama suggested Dr. Porter was not that ill. Until his arrest, Dr. Porter ran a cancer clinic in Bahamas and made regular trips to his native Sierra Leone, where, he said, he had direct access to political leaders including its president. President Ernest Bai Koroma also conferred him with an extraordinary title: “His Excellency, Ambassador Plenipotentiary, Republic of Sierra Leone,” raising issues around his activities as a businessman who had huge interest in Sierra Leone. Other media reports have also said that Dr. Porter had used the designation in written correspondences with his title appearing on personal letterhead under the Sierra Leonean coat of arms. However, after his arrest the Embassy of Sierra Leone in Washington DC, also accredited to Canada, immediately revoked Dr. Porter appointment as Ambassador at Large for Sierra Leone. (C) Politico 10/09/13