The repressive governance that has been a feature of the rule of President Maada Bio since he came to power two years ago is worsening. Yesterday, one of the lawyers representing the political detainees in Sierra Leone, Mr. Addy Macauley was arrested because of a story that appeared in the online ORGANIZER newspaper.
READ THE FULL STORY IN THE ORGANIZER NEWSPAPER BELOW :
Lawyer Ady Macauley Arrested for Editor Abu Shaw’s Piece ‘SLPP to Transfer APC Detainees
By Abu Shaw in London (20/05/2020)
Popular lawyer Ady Macauley was arrested yesterday for my story entitled ‘SLPP Plans to Transfer APC Detainees from Freetown to SLPP Stronghold’.
Published in theorganiser.net newspaper on Monday, May 18, 2020, by the editor Abu Shaw, the article touched on the secret plot by the SLPP government to transfer all the political detainees from the capital Freetown to the SLPP fortress in the south-east of Sierra Leone. (Photo: Lawyer Ady Macauley arrested and detained for nothing).
It was shocking to understand that one of the defence lawyers for the detainees Mr Ady Macauley was arrested and detained at the Criminal Investigations Department CID in Freetown yesterday for the article published in theorganiser.net newspaper which he (Ady Macauley) has nothing to do with whatsoever.
Lawyer Ady Macauley’s arrest and detention was really shocking but obviously not surprising to readers of this newspaper because the SLPP government of President Julius Maada Bio is looking everywhere at the moment for scapegoats for the political and socio-economic mess they have plunged the country into.
Our CID sources say Mr Ady Macauley was thoroughly grilled for hours during questioning yesterday at the CID headquarters in Freetown by desperate police officers who wanted to know if he (Ady) had disclosed any information to the editor Abu Shaw that led to the composition of the said article.
“Do you know Abu Shaw? What did you tell him?,” the irate police officers interrogating Mr Ady Macauley persistently probed. To all the questions, Lawyer Macauley told them that he does not even know Abu Shaw. “I did not reveal any information to him nor have I ever met him,” Ady told the CID officers.
It reportedly took Mr Ady Macauley hours of denials to convince the police officers that he did not connive with nor supply any information to editor Abu Shaw regarding the story that was published on May 18. Reports say Lawyer Ady Macauley was subsequently granted self-bail and then released from custody.
Theorganiser.net newspaper absolutely condemns the unnecessary arrest, detention and harassment of the learned lawyer Ady Macauley. The newspaper never consulted Mr Macauley nor did he contribute any iota of information in the write-up story.
For further clarification, the publisher of theorganiser.net Abu Shaw does not personally know Mr Ady Macauley. He has never met Ady Macauley in person nor have they ever exchanged any written or oral or social media communications. Never. But that does not mean Abu Shaw is not conversant with current affairs in Sierra Leone. (Photo: Abu Shaw has sources everywhere in Sierra Leone).
It is an open secret that the defence team Seray Kamal & Co Solicitors and Barristers led by Ady Macauley have, from the outset, represented the following detainees i.e. Mr Alfred Palo Conteh, Mr Herbert Williams, Saa Anthony Sinah, Amadu Koita, Abu Bakarr Daramy, Dr Sylvia Olayinka Blyden and Child Activist Hussain Muckson Sesay.
Peace-loving Sierra Leoneans cannot understand why the police even executed the arrest of Ady Macauley. Because if they had read the article properly, the authorities would have noticed that Ady Macauley was never hinted as the source of the story. He was not quoted. He was merely mentioned because everyone knows that he is part and parcel of the defence team. Scapegoating the likes of Mr Ady Macauley is a public relations disaster for this government.
And when you have a government that was elected democratically in 2018 and then suddenly becomes a dictatorship and authoritarian democracy, innocent citizens like Mr Ady Macauley would be scapegoated in order to find flimsy excuses for their incompetence in governance.
The newspaper wholeheartedly regrets the harassment and intimidation of lawyer Ady Macauley by State Security yesterday. The newspaper reiterates that lawyer Ady Macauley is innocent of any involvement in the publication of the story in question. Theorganiser.net newspaper will not be deterred by government agents in its pursuit of freedom, unity and justice. Investigations into human rights abuses and undemocratic governance in Sierra Leone continue unabated.
