(IPI/IFEX) – The following is an IPI letter to President Charles Taylor: H.E. Charles Taylor President of the Republic of Liberia Office of the President Executive Mansion, POB 10-9001 Capitol Hill 1000 Monrovia Liberia Vienna, 7 August 2002 Your Excellency, The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives, […]
(IPI/IFEX) – The following is an IPI letter to President Charles Taylor:
H.E. Charles Taylor
President of the Republic of Liberia
Office of the President
Executive Mansion, POB 10-9001
Capitol Hill
1000 Monrovia
Liberia
Vienna, 7 August 2002
Your Excellency,
The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, leading journalists and media executives, is dismayed at the Liberian government’s continuing refusal to release the editor of a Monrovian newspaper.
According to information provided by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MWPA), the Ministry of National Defence on 31 July prevented the Court Martial of the Armed Forces of Liberia (“the military tribunal”) from hearing a writ of habeas corpus brought before the military tribunal on behalf of Hassan Bility, editor of The Analyst newspaper.
Prior to the current application, the military tribunal had asked Your Excellency’s government to produce Bility by 7 August. The order had been made after the military tribunal issued its third successive writ of habeas corpus following repeated representations by human rights lawyers.
The decision of the Ministry of National Defence in Monrovia was made on the grounds that Your Excellency, acting as the commander-in-chief, had not ordered the military tribunal to sit. Aside from the prohibition on sitting, the MWPA allege that the secretary of the military tribunal, a Colonel Ramsey, who signed the writs of habeas corpus, had been arrested and detained.
Arrested on 24 June, along with two others, Mohammed Kamara and Ansumana Kamara, Bility had been charged with attempting to assassinate Your Excellency. After being tried as a so-called “illegal combatant”, Judge Winston Henries of the Criminal Court upheld Your Excellency’s accusations without listening to further evidence in support. Bility has not been seen since and there are real fears that he may have been tortured to death.
With regard to the treatment of Bility and the failure of Your Excellency’s government to produce him, even after the issuance of three writs of habeas corpus, IPI believes it is a sad indictment of the failure of the Liberian government to respect both human rights and a free and independent judiciary.
Therefore, IPI calls on Your Excellency to allow the military tribunal to sit, to produce Bility immediately, or show good cause as to why he cannot be produced and to issue a declaration respecting freedom of the press and freedom of expression. A declaration in accordance with article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states, “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression”.
We thank you for your attention.
Yours sincerely,
Johann P. Fritz
Director
Recommended Action
Similar appeals can be sent to:
H.E. Charles Taylor
President of the Republic of Liberia
Office of the President
Executive Mansion, POB 10-9001
Capitol Hill
1000 Monrovia, Liberia
Fax: +231 226 360
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