On June 18th 2024, the Sierra Leonean police arrested and detained Joy Precious Baryoh, a female lawyer for a critical comment she posted on President Julius Maada Bio’s X (formerly Twitter) account. Commenting on a post on @PresidentBio, official X account of the President, regarding his meeting with executives of the Sierra Leone Bar Association, Baryoh suggested that it was a meeting of two bodies which came to office through rigged elections.
Following the post, a truckload of police officers bristling with arms, stormed the lawyer’s office premises and arrested her. She was taken to the police CID headquarters and detained overnight on charges of cyber stalking and bullying under Sierra Leone’s recently adopted cybersecurity law.
Ms Baryoh was released on bail the following day, following the intervention of her lawyers, Madieu Sesay and Jocelyn Turay. Having regained her freedom, Baryoh released a statement recounting her ordeal and vowing to remain uncompromising on democratic principles.
“Last Wednesday, a truckload of armed police officers came to my office to arrest me. For what? A tweet on the rule of law and democratic principles.
It has been a challenging week, but the innocent have nothing to fear. I am a lawyer and my tools are my mouth and my pen,” she insisted.
News of the arrest caused widespread consternation across Sierra Leone, with many warning that the police action was a dangerous precedent that could has a chilling effect on freedom of expression.
The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) associates itself with the widespread outrage against Baryoh’s detention. She is within her rights as a citizen to express her opinions about public interest matters, including public elections. We therefore call on the police to drop all charges against her and avoid such overzealous interventions that infringe on citizens’ right to freedom of expression.
