(MFWA/IFEX) – On 18 January 2007, the Office of the Attorney General instructed the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to officially ask the British government to extradite three siblings implicated in the murder of Harry Yansaneh, editor of the independent newspaper “For Di People”, a year and a half ago. Ahmed Komeh, Bai Bureh Komeh […]
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 18 January 2007, the Office of the Attorney General instructed the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to officially ask the British government to extradite three siblings implicated in the murder of Harry Yansaneh, editor of the independent newspaper “For Di People”, a year and a half ago.
Ahmed Komeh, Bai Bureh Komeh and Aminata Komeh, children of ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) Member of Parliament (MP) Fatmata Hassan, fled to the United Kingdom following Yansaneh’s death. Hassan and her children assaulted Yansaneh, then acting editor of the newspaper, two-and-a-half months before he died in July 2005. An inquest linked the journalist’s death to the beatings.
A Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) correspondent reported that the move by the government may bring an end to the continued agitation by the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), MFWA and freedom of expression organisations to arraign the MP and her children before a court to answer allegations of assault on the journalist.
The latest government move comes not long after a ruling by High Court Justice A. Showers indicating that the government could seek extradition of the suspects.
In August 2005, the director of public prosecutions, Robin Mason, presented a motion before Justice Showers asking for leave to allow the government to put in motion proceedings with regard to the extradition of the three suspects.
On 10 May 2005, Yansaneh was beaten up and abandoned by the three siblings, allegedly on the orders of Fatmata Hassan.
Although the matter was reported to the central police, no action was taken. The assailants subsequently fled to the UK.
