(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the three day detention without charge of “Peep!” magazine editor Olu Richie Awoonor Gordon in the capital, Freetown. The organisation has also criticised the failure of the UN mission in Sierra Leone to speak out on the government’s repeated press freedom violations. Police detained Gordon on 11 February 2005 after […]
(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has condemned the three day detention without charge of “Peep!” magazine editor Olu Richie Awoonor Gordon in the capital, Freetown. The organisation has also criticised the failure of the UN mission in Sierra Leone to speak out on the government’s repeated press freedom violations.
Police detained Gordon on 11 February 2005 after he wrote an article criticising the government’s failure to dismiss a minister who has been accused of corruption. He was released at midday on 14 February.
“President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah’s government uses the police and judiciary at whim,” the organisation said. “Journalists are too often the victim of these abuses in Sierra Leone, where ‘For Di People’ editor Paul Kamara continues to languish in prison for criticising the president.”
Referring to the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL), RSF said, “It is high time the local UN mission monitored respect for the media. Its silence on the tyrannical behaviour of the authorities towards the press only aggravates the situation by fostering impunity.”
Police went to “Peep!”‘s office in Freetown on the afternoon of 11 February and told Gordon he was “invited” to come to the police station. After being questioned for several hours and signing a statement, he was placed in custody. He was not released until midday on 14 February, after the justice minister decided not to bring any charges against him.
RSF contacted Police Superintendent M.B Lapia while Gordon was still being questioned. Lapia insisted that Gordon had just been “invited” to “answer some questions” and that there was no question of his being “arrested.” When contacted by RSF just after his interrogation, Gordon said the police were civil with him and that it was likely that the government had given the order to bring him to the police station.
“I still don’t know what is in store for me,” Gordon told RSF after the interrogation. “The police don’t know too much about what I am doing here. If I have to spend the weekend in prison, so be it. I have already been arrested in the past, but this is the most absurd episode I’ve ever experienced in my career as a journalist.”
“Peep!” is known for being one of Sierra Leone’s most incisive publications with respect to corruption issues. An article in the 11 February issue asked why Marine Minister Ibrahim Okere Adams was not fired after being indicted by a commission set up to investigate corruption. The article pointed out that two other ministers, Harry Will and Momoh Pujeh, had been fired after being indicted by the same commission.
The article quoted a presidential office press release saying someone holding public office should only step down after the courts ruled on their guilt, likening the situation to that of former US President Bill Clinton. The article also pointed out that Adams is one of the most powerful allies of President Kabbah and Vice-President Solomon Berewa within the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) in the north of the country.
