Sierra Leone imprisons popular radiohost under new Ebola policy - Released

[Gert van der Hoek]

Most influential radiohost of Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone imprisons journalist under new Ebola policy

2014-11-05

Freetown - Police in Sierra Leone have jailed a journalist in the capital of Freetown under emergency measures introduced to help the West African country cope with the Ebola epidemic, a senior police source said on Tuesday.

David Tam-Baryoh was sent to the Pademba Road prison on an executive order from the president, according to Chief Superintendent Ibrahim Koroma.

"The powers were derived from the Ebola emergency regulations the country is currently under", Koroma said, without detailing the charges against the journalist or specifying the length of his detention.

The arrest may be linked to comments made by Tam-Baryoh on his popular radio programme Monolgue in which he appeared to challenge arrests made last week in the Kono district after Ebola-linked riots.

The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists condemned the arrest. The country is one of the worst affected by the largest outbreak on record, with more than 1 500 victims.

News24.com

thanks to Ginny Mooy

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Sierra Leone imprisons popular radiohost under new Ebola policy

Re: Sierra Leone imprisons popular radiohost under new Ebola policy

Sierra Leone: Journalist arrested after questioning official Ebola response

David Tam Baryoh was arrested under emergency regulations as Ebola-hit governments crack down on protest and criticism

Monica Mark

The Guardian, Wednesday 5 November 2014

A journalist in Sierra Leone who has criticised the government’s handling of the Ebola outbreak was allegedly beaten then jailed under emergency laws meant to help bring the epidemic under control.

David Tam Baryoh, a high-profile radio journalist whose reports have often needled officials, is being detained at the maximum-security Pademba Road prison in the capital Freetown. His popular weekly programme, Monologue, was taken off air mid-show last week as he interviewed an opposition party spokesman who criticised the president’s alleged intentions to run for a third term. During that show Baryoh also questioned arrests made in Kono, an eastern district put under curfew in October when a dispute between youths and police over a suspected case of Ebola degenerated into gunfire and rioting.

An associate said Baryoh was beaten some time between police storming his office on Sunday and his being examined by a prison doctor on Monday. A source who visited Baryoh in prison said he was unable to stand properly, and clutched at his knees before tottering to the ground. Baryoh suffers from high blood pressure, and is struggling with the crowded conditions of a jail that houses about four times its capacity of 324 inmates, the source added.

“When the police arrested him in his office, there were six armed ones and a couple of plain clothes. They were really rough with him and threw away his blood pressure tablets,” a close friend of Baryoh’s told the Guardian. “A doctor has said he really needs to be in a hospital but officials made some excuse about no visitors because of Ebola, and shooed [the doctor] away.” Officials declined to comment on the allegations.

More: The Guardian

 

[Emily]

Re: Sierra Leone imprisons popular radiohost under new Ebola policy

Re: Sierra Leone imprisons popular radiohost under new Ebola policy

There's a pattern of retaliation for speaking out. (AML is a British-based iron ore firm .)

http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/14/courage-speak-sierra-leone

The Courage to Speak in Sierra Leone
March 14, 2014
...
His body was found in early the next day − Sunday, 19 May − lying in a swamp by the road. His skull was fractured. His jeans were torn. His phone was missing. His bike was not seriously damaged.

The police, through its traffic division, immediately ruled Conteh's death an accident. AML said it was conducting an inquiry, but later reported difficulty in establishing exact details, since it was not workplace-related.
...
Sierra Leone?s Open Government Initiative, which is designed to improve the flow of information to the people and is housed in the office of President Ernest Koroma, hosted the event. I hoped for an open, frank, and constructive dialogue, but the government officials were largely dismissive, and the corporate representatives quite hostile. About 25 activists attended the meeting, but only a couple asked questions or offered comments. Most of the local reporters echoed the government?s and company?s posturing. Khadija Sesay, the director of the Open Government Initiative director, was even threatened after the symposium for her involvement in it.

One person who did make a statement was a journalist friend who had been jailed the previous week on the ludicrous charge of seditious libel after hosting a radio show in which a guest speaker apparently insulted the country?s vice-president. After an outcry, he was released...

 

[Gert van der Hoek]

Re: Sierra Leone imprisons popular radiohost under new Ebola policy - Released

Umaru Fofana ‏@UmaruFofana 4m4 minutes ago

Just spoken to released #SierraLeone Journo David Tam-Baryoh. Sounded in high spirit, said he'd forgiven thoz who detained him w/out charge.

Umaru Fofana @UmaruFofana · 1h 1 hour ago

After 10 days in prison without charge, #SierraLeone Journo David Tam Baryoh released on $10k bail to be reporting to the police every Mon.