CONCERNED SIERRA LEONEANS PRESS RELEASE
05/05/2021
Calling on the government of Sierra Leone to immediately release Mr Michael Mansaray from illegal detention.
On the 28th of April, 2021, identified police personnels dressed in civilian clothing violently and illegally arrested Mr Michael Mansaray in Bo City, the southern region of Sierra Leone.
According to the information intimated to us by our sources, the SLPP government of President Bio decided to send police officers dressed in civilian clothes to arrest Mr Mansaray because of his allegiance to the All People’s Congress (APC) opposition party.
Consequently, he has been held in custody and allegedly subjected to torture and intimidation in violation of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone and from Protection from arbitrary arrest or detention.
Under Section 17. (1) of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone; no person shall be deprived of his personal liberty except as may be authorised by law in any of the following cases, that is to say —
a. in consequence of his unfitness to plead to a criminal charge; or
b. in the execution of a sentence or order of a Court whether in Sierra Leone or elsewhere in respect of a criminal offence of which he has been convicted;
(2) Any person who—
a. is arrested or detained shall be informed in writing or in a language that he understands at the time of his arrest, and in any event not later than twenty-four hours, of the facts and grounds for his arrest or detention;
b. is arrested or detained shall be informed immediately at the time of the arrest of his right of access to a legal practitioner or any person of his choice, and shall be permitted at his own expense to instruct without delay a legal practitioner of his own choice and to communicate with him confidentially.
(3) Any person who is arrested or detained in such a case as is mentioned in paragraph (e) or (f) of subsection (1) and who is not released shall be brought before a court of law—
a. within ten days from the date of arrest in cases of capital offences, offences carrying life imprisonment and economic and environmental offences; and
b. within seventy-two hours of his arrest in case of other offences; and if any person arrested or detained in such a case as is mentioned in the said paragraph (f) is not tried within the periods specified in paragraph (a) or (b) of this section, as the case may be, then without prejudice to any further proceedings which may be brought against him, he shall be released either unconditionally or upon reasonable conditions, including, in particular, such conditions as are reasonably necessary to ensure that he appears at a later date for trial or proceedings preliminary to trial.
(4) Any person who is unlawfully arrested or detained by any other person shall be entitled to compensation therefore from that other person.
The public is aware that Mr Mansaray has not committed any offence. But the SLP has failed to follow the law as provided in the section and subsections explained above.
In addition, Section 18. (1) states, “No person shall be deprived of his freedom of movement, and for the purpose of this section, the said freedom means the right to move freely throughout Sierra Leone, the right to reside in any part of Sierra Leone.”
Furthermore, Section 19. (2) Any restriction on a person’s freedom of movement which is involved in his lawful detention shall not be held to be inconsistent with or in contravention of this section”.
Under Section 20. (1) No person shall be subject to any form of torture or any punishment or other treatment which is inhuman or degrading.
Finally, Section 25. (1) clearly stipulates that “Except with his own consent, no person shall be hindered in the enjoyment of his freedom of expression, and for the purpose of this section the said freedom includes the freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart ideas and information without interference, freedom from interference with his correspondence, freedom to own, establish and operate any medium for the dissemination of information, ideas and opinions, and academic freedom in institutions of learning.”
Given the above, we are calling on the government of President Bio and the Sierra Leone Police to respect the 1991 Constitution by immediately releasing Mr Mansaray and arrange for his compensation.
We are also imploring the international community, the MCC, the ECOWAS, and the ICC, Amnesty International and the Human Rights Commission of Sierra Leone to take note of the increasing human rights violations against civilians.
We are optimistic that Mr Mansaray’s rights and freedom would be respected by the government of President Bio as guaranteed by our 1991 Constitution as a citizen of our beloved country, Sierra Leone.
The government of Sierra Leone should be reminded that as per the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights 1948 to which Sierra Leone is a signatory, Articles 1 & 2, 3-5, 12 – 17 of Mr Mansaray’s rights have been compromised.
Long live democracy!
Long live unity! Freedom! And Justice!
Yours Sincerely,
Concerned Sierra Leoneans UK
CC
1) UK High Commissioner, Sierra Leone
2) US Ambassador, Sierra Leone
3) Minister for Africa, UK
4) Secretary of State for International Development, UK
5) International Criminal Court (ICC)
6) UN Secretary General
7) Amnesty International, UK
😎 ECOWAS President
9) African Union
10) Her Majesty Opposition Party leader
11) Harriet Harman MP, Chairman of the UK Human Rights Committee
12) Neil Coyle MP
