By Aminata Phidelia Allie
Civil Society Organizations in Sierra Leone have challenged President Ernest Bai Koroma`s release of two female Kono detainees, referring to it as “discriminatory” against the men since they were all arrested and detained at the same time and for the same reasons.
In a press release issued on Monday, April 20, the Center for Accountability and Rule of Law (CARL) and AdvocAid, said men and women had the same rights and so it was discriminatory to release the women while the men were still being held in custody.
In October last year, 34 residents of Kono district, Eastern Sierra Leone, were arrested and detained on an executive order from President Koroma under the state of emergency regulations. They were accused of obstructing Ebola teams in the operations of their duties. 24 of the detainees were released later after some days, leaving two women and six men in custody in Freetown.
More people were detained early this year, following another riot which ensued from the refusal of ‘Adamu’, an All Peoples Congress party supporter, to allow his mother to be buried as an Ebola patient. He had refused she be given an Ebola burial because he believed she had not died of the disease.
Presently, there are 11 men still in detention for committing the same crime but on different dates.
Press releases and pleas from various organizations, locally and internationally, for President Koroma to release the detainees fell on deaf ears. About six months later on April 12th however, the two women were released.
A statement from the president announcing their release said “…they were part of a group that defied regulations laid down as part of measures to control the Ebola virus.” And it blamed their action for a spike in the number of Ebola cases in the district.
“Now that Kono has had more than 45 days without new cases, the President has graciously decided to order the release of the women,” the statement said.
CARL and AdvocAid though said they were concerned, on the basis of the above reasoning, that the remaining men had not also been so released.
“So if these men and women were arrested to ensure that Ebola health workers were not impeded in their work to defeat the virus, why then are the men still in custody?,” CARL’s Executive Director, Ibrahim Tommy asked.
The CSOs said they were delighted about the release of the women, especially given that they were returning to their families and children after their ordeal. But the Executive Director of AdvocAid, Simitie Lavaly, sounded disappointed.
“…we are disappointed that due process was not followed and their detention was not legally reviewed as provided by the Constitution. If there was sufficient evidence, they should have been charged to court and had a court determine their guilt. If this was done, perhaps they would have been released much sooner,” Ms Lavaly pointed out.
In January this year, AdvocAid wrote to the President requesting the release of the detainees or confirmation of refusal to release. They also wrote to the Acting Chief Justice, Valesius Thomas, requesting that an independent tribunal be constituted to review the continued detention, which the CSO said, was a safeguard provided in Sierra Leone’s Constitution.
“However, despite these interventions, the procedural safeguards were not implemented,” AdocAid is quoted as saying in the Monday press release.
“We therefore call on the President to order the immediate release of all the other detainees, given that the purported reason for their arrest, the spike in Ebola cases in Kono, is no longer relevant,” the joint statement added.
Should the President fail to do as they had requested, they called on the Acting Chief Justice to constitute an independent tribunal to review the legality of the detentions. “Sierra Leone’s Constitution should not be ignored,” it said.
© Politico 22/04/15
