(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN is deeply shocked at the death on 27 July 2005 of “For Di People” editor Harry Yansaneh. The journalist died of kidney problems apparently caused by an assault he suffered on 10 May. In a letter that Yansaneh sent before his death to the Sierra Leone Association of […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – The WiPC of International PEN is deeply shocked at the death on 27 July 2005 of “For Di People” editor Harry Yansaneh. The journalist died of kidney problems apparently caused by an assault he suffered on 10 May.
In a letter that Yansaneh sent before his death to the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), he explicitly accused Member of Parliament Fatmata Hassan of ordering the 10 May attack. According to Yansaneh, one of Hassan’s sons threatened him and vandalised the “For Di People” office, of which Hassan is reportedly the landlady, in the early evening of 10 May. When the editor was on his way to the police station to make an official complaint about the incident, he was set upon by a group including Hassan’s two sons, Bai Bureh and Mohamed Komeh. Yansaneh also accused Hassan herself of being present when Bureh sat on his neck and threatened to kill him. The journalist made a statement to the police, who issued a medical report and took photographs of his injuries. However, according to numerous reports, the police have to date taken no action against the alleged perpetrators of the attack.
The motives for the assault appear to be Hassan’s apparent desire to evict “For Di People” from their offices, coupled with the member of parliament’s dislike of the newspaper’s criticism of the government. Yansaneh took over the editorship of “For Di People” in October 2004, when former editor Paul Kamara was given two two-year sentences (running concurrently) for “seditious libel” (see IFEX alerts of 4 July, 22 June, 2 May and 25 February 2005 and others). After the attack, Bureh and Komeh are alleged to have returned to London, UK, where they are apparently resident.
International PEN condemns the attack on Yansaneh and calls upon the Sierra Leone authorities to bring all those responsible to justice. PEN is also alarmed at the apparent systematic nature of the attacks on “For Di People”, which include two two-year prison sentences handed down to its founding editor, Kamara. PEN calls for the immediate release of Kamara, whose latest appeal for bail pending a revision of his case was turned down on 25 July, and for an enquiry to be set up to investigate the offensive waged against “For Di People”.
