By Anthony Vandy

Despite repeated requests from their relatives for the bodies to be given to them for burial, the government has buried more than 20 persons who were shot dead by security forces during the protests on August 10. The decision, according to a government announcement, was made with the approval of the bereaved families who were each given a token of twenty million Leones for the funeral ceremonies of their deceased relatives. According to the public notice, President Julius Maada Bio ordered that the bodies be given a respectable burial.

However, the question is whether that could be viewed as a kind act from a government that had condemned the August 10
Are the demonstrators from August 10 terrorists and coup plotters who sought to topple President Maada Bio’s legitimate government? Can the administration be trusted to retract its previous claim that the demonstrators were terrorists and coupists? They probably won’t, because doing so would undermine their intrinsic ego and bellicosity and call into question their consistency in speaking and making decisions.

The Peoples Power in Politics (PPP)-led demonstration on August 10 was labeled illegal by the Sierra Leonean police, who stated that no one had submitted an application as needed by law to request authorization from the police to hold a protest there. The police had previously issued a severe warning that no one should dare come to the streets in the form of protest before the protest, which began with a sit-at-home action.

To the government’s shock and in spite of all the warnings, a large number of people—including women—turned out to demonstrate against what many described as severe economic hardship in the nation. With youth unemployment on the rise and rising prices for essential commodities, Sierra Leone, a donor-driven developing nation, is no exception to the global suffering that today afflicts everyone. In addition to the Corona Virus pandemic, the Ebola Virus illness devastated Sierra Leone, ultimately reversing the nation’s progress.

Dealing with the country’s economic hard hit has been herculean for the current administration which had promised the heavens while in opposition. They have applied all possible means, including the auctioning of our reserves the Bank of Sierra Leone, to handle the country’s economic quagmire, but it seems nothing is working with a scenario of one step forward two steps backward.

On several occasions, the Sierra Leone police have denied people the right to protest, despite going through the due process to do so. Several politicians and right activists have been arrested and detained for basically having their say on national issues. Many have faced police humiliation for incitement and subsequently detained at the Criminal Investigations Department headquarters in Freetown for days and released later.

On August 10 when people came out in their numbers, the government invoked the Military Aid to Civil Power commonly referred to as MAC-P, which is a level one security operation to deal with any situation that might want to undermine the security of the state. Several arrests were made while some police officers and dozens of civilians were killed during the protest. Since the protest was deemed illegal from the outset, the government described protesters as terrorists and coupists, who had wanted to overthrow the democratically elected government of President Julius Maada Bio.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Professor David Francis, in his address to the international community, described the protesters as terrorists, albeit he was cautioned in the use of the word. The government’s characterization of the protesters as terrorists, according to many, was justified by the violent destruction of public property including dozens of police posts and vehicles and the brutal killing of police officers by protesters. On social media, some sympathisers of the administration stoutly defended the use of the word ‘terrorist’ to describe the protesters.

In his address to the nation after his return from a trip in the UK, President Bio, acting as a repeater station, also described the protesters as terrorists. He claimed that the protest was carefully planned, financed and carried out. He also accused the opposition of being behind the protest. President Bio promised to thoroughly investigate the protest and bring all culprits and accomplices to book.

Surprisingly though, protesters who were arrested by the police were never charged to court for either terrorism or treason. They were charged to court, convicted and sentenced for riotous conduct and other miscellaneous offences, with no charge of terrorism and treason. Although some government sympathisers would argue that our laws do not cover terrorism, but it would have been wise to charge the protesters for treason so as to match words with action.
But to charge them to court with miscellaneous offences begs the question as to why the government deliberately used the word terrorist to describe the protesters. It also boils down to the fact that there is a complete lack of inconsistency and logic in the use words and decision making on the side of the administration.

To many, the consistent use of terrorism to describe the protesters was a complete misnomer for a country that is in dire need of investment to create jobs for the youth and boost the economy. From the president down to the least government sympathizer, persistently described the protesters as terrorists and insurrectionists with no regret.

One thing that is clear is that, whosoever is declared as a terrorist is an enemy of the state and shouldn’t be treated kindly. It sounds bizarre for the government to take a sharp twist from treating the protesters as terrorists and to giving them befitting burial. Befitting burial for terrorists? When Osama Bin Laden was killed by the US Special Forces, his body was thrown in the high seas for the fish and other sea animals to feast on. Sadam Hussein was executed via the gallows as a sacrifice on Eid al-Adha. Qasem Suleimani, the Iranian military general, was killed by a US drone and his body was taken and buried by the Iranian government. These are the ways terrorists are expected to be treated and not be given befitting burial as in the case of ours in Sierra Leone.

Critical minds are of the view that the move by the government to bury those corpses was completely hypocritical and failure to hand over the corpses to the respective bereaved families was tantamount to the violation of human rights. There was nothing befitting about the burial of the corpses whose grieving families were denied the right to bury them in their own ways. If the state wants to prove magnanimity, then they should release all those placed behind bars in respect of the August 10 protest.