Sierra Leone

(MFWA/IFEX) – Sahr Musa Yamba, editor of “Concord Times”, an independent newspaper based in Freetown, Sierra Leone who was arrested by plain clothes policemen on 20 March 2006, on the instructions of the Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Frederick Carew, no longer has a case to answer to after all. On the day following […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – Sahr Musa Yamba, editor of “Concord Times”, an independent newspaper based in Freetown was arrested on 20 March 2006 by plain-clothed policemen and sent to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the police headquarters. The policemen gave no explanation for Yamba’s arrest but said they were acting on instructions from the Attorney General’s […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 7 February 2006 CPJ press release: SIERRA LEONE: Prosecutor won’t pursue manslaughter charge in journalist’s death New York, February 7, 2006 – Sierra Leone’s attorney general confirmed today that he will not pursue charges of manslaughter against a member of parliament and two others accused of assaulting journalist Harry […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – The Attorney General of Sierra Leone, Frederick Carew, on 17 January 2006 declared that his office is unable to lay any charges relating to the death of Harry Yansaneh, late acting editor of independent daily newspaper “For Di People”. Yansaneh died on the night of 27 July 2005 at CUPID Hospital in Freetown, […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has welcomed the release of Paul Kamara, the founder and editor of the independent daily “For Di People”, after 14 months in prison, and urged the government to keep it promises of democracy and put an end to its repression of the news media. “After more than a year of […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 31 October 2005, the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) asked the government to implement without further delay the recommendations of the committee that investigated the death of Harry Yansaneh, acting editor of the independent daily “For Di People”, by bringing suspects named in the report to trial. SLAJ President Alhaji I. […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has voiced interest in statements by Sierra Leonean officials that President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah is at last ready to amend a criminal defamation law included in the Public Order Act, which dates back to colonial times. The law’s victims include “For Di People” editor Paul Kamara, who was unjustly sentenced […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reacting to the intimidation and humiliation of a radio journalist by tribal elders in Kakua, the capital of the southern district of Bo, RSF has urged the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone (UNAMSIL) to uphold the rule of law and remind traditional chiefs that the country is meant to be reconstructing along […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 29 August 2005 CPJ press release: SIERRA LEONE: Inquest says editor’s death was manslaughter New York, August 29, 2005-An attack on newspaper editor Harry Yansaneh contributed to his death from kidney failure two months later, a judicial inquest found on Friday. A magistrate ordered the arrest of Member of […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sierra Leone Police has questioned Fatmata Hassan, a member of parliament who allegedly initiated the assault leading to the death of Harry Yanssaneh, acting editor of the independent newspaper “For Di People”. On 1 August 2005, Hassan, an MP of the ruling Sierra Leone Peoples’ Party […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 25 July 2005, Paul Kamara, editor of the Freetown-based newspaper “For Di People”, who is serving a 2-year prison term for seditious libel, was refused his application for bail. The Appeal Court in Freetown, presided over by Justices Jon Kamanda and Patricia Macauley, ruled that Kamara did not have sufficient reasons to […]

(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 […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – The health of Harry Yanssaneh, editor of the privately-owned newspaper “For Di People”, continues to deteriorate since he was assaulted on 10 May 2005 by thugs allegedly acting on the orders of Fatmata Hassan, a member of parliament of the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP). On 10 May, Yanssaneh was beaten brutally […]

(WAN/IPI/IFEX) – The following is a 1 July 2005 joint IPI and WAN letter to President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah: His Excellency Ahmad Tejan Kabbah Office of the President State House 15 Siaka Steven Street Freetown, Sierra Leone Fax: +232 22 225 615 1 July 2005 Your Excellency, We are writing on behalf of the International […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 22 June 2005 letter to President Ahmad Tejan Kabbah, CPJ expressed deep concern that imprisoned journalist Paul Kamara has been denied due process of law. Administrative obstacles have prevented his appeal from being heard, according to his lawyer, and Kamara has now served more than eight months of a two-year prison […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 7 June 2005, Magistrate Sam Margai, of the No. 1 Freetown Court, discharged Syndey Pratt and Dennis Jones, editor and reporter, respectively, of the “Trumpet” newspaper. The two journalists were acquitted of charges of “seditious libel” brought against them on 27 May, following the publication of the paper’s 23 May edition. The […]