The President of the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, Dempster Browne, was on Tuesday, October 29 arrested in Monrovia, while the search is on for Aloysius Toe, Secretary General of the Coalition. The head of the National Human Rights Center, Blamoh Sieh, is also in detention for his alleged links with Mr Toe.

According to the Ministry of Justice, attorney Browne is being held for calling on Liberians to join a peaceful march in solidarity with journalist Hassan Bility and others detained for their alleged links with the LURD rebels. President Charles Taylor had, on Monday, October 28, warned that anyone joining the solidarity march would be “dealt with severely.”

Aloysius Toe is said to be wanted because documents allegedly linking him to the LURD rebels were found in his home. His wife was arrested and detained but later released. President Taylor on Monday promised to transfer Bility and his colleagues to the custody of the Liberia Muslim Council, warning however, that “the prisoners are not released but will be monitored” to ensure that they did not “cause problems or leave the country.”

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is concerned about the persistent violations of the freedom of expression rights of Liberians by the government of Mr Taylor. We appeal to the government to release the detainees without condition, and to respect the fundamental rights of citizens in the country. The MFWA calls on you to kindly protest the arrest and detention of Dempster Browne and Blamoh Sieh and other forms of human rights abuses being perpetrated by Charles Taylor’s government.

The Ministry of National Defence in Monrovia on Wednesday July 31, 2002 barred the Court Martial Board of the Armed Forces of Liberia from hearing a writ of habeas corpus filed in favour of Hassan Bility, editor of The Analyst newspaper.

A military tribunal in Monrovia had asked the government of President Charles Taylor to produce the living body of Hassan Bility, the “missing” editor of The Analyst newspaper, by Wednesday August 7, 2002. The tribunal issued the order after the government had ignored four consecutive writs of habeas corpus filed by a team of human rights defenders to compel the regime to produce Bility in a civil court.

Bility was arrested on June 24, along with two others, Mohammad Kamara and Ansumana Kamara, and detained for what President Charles Taylor said was a plot to assassinate him. Whilst Assumana and Muhammad are being detained at the National Security Agency (NSA), Bility has been held incommunicado for the past five weeks, without access to medical care, his family or lawyers.

The Defence Ministry declared the latest writ of habeas corpus served on the government as “null and void,” on grounds that the “Commander-in-Chief,” President Charles Taylor had not ordered the Military Court to sit. The secretary of the Military Tribunal, Col. Ramsay, who signed the writ, was ordered arrested and detained. The intended trial of Bility, a civilian and journalist, by a military tribunal is upon President Taylor’s charge that he was an “illegal combatant.” Judge Winston Henries of the Criminal Court, without any further evidence, upheld the President’s claim two weeks ago. Though the government had initially publicly declared holding the three men, it later denied keeping Bility, provoking conflicting information as to whether he had been tortured to death or so badly brutalized that the government is buying time for him to recover.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) condemns the decision of the Criminal Court to succumb to President Taylor’s demand for Bility to be tried by a military court. The MFWA is therefore calling on all human and media rights organizations, individuals and institutions that believe in freedom and justice to protest the trial of Bility by any court whatsoever. The MFWA fears that a military tribunal will have no justice and will convict Bility and his colleagues as President Taylor wishes. A military tribunal will be barred to the public and independent legal defence for Bility.

We must protest the protracted detention without charge of the three men, and demand their immediate release. The torture and incarceration of Bility is part of the Taylor government’s campaign to destroy independent media and journalists in Liberia. The MFWA believes that the intention to try Bility and his two civilian colleagues in a military court is part of a ploy to find Bility and the others guilty at all costs.

Some independent media personnel in Monrovia have complained of being under constant surveillance by men believed to be state security agents. The journalists alleged that a group of men dressed in uniforms of the Liberia National Police and the presidential elite guard, the Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU), have visited their homes at odd hours of the night and inquired about their whereabouts.

Neighbours of the journalists in question confirmed to Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources in Liberia that the police and ATU officers made threatening remarks, accusing the journalists of being anti-government. The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is concerned for the freedom and safety of journalists in the country. Independent media practitioners have been constant targets of state security forces since Charles Taylor was elected President of Liberia six years ago. The insecure environment has caused most of the country’s prominent journalists to escape from the country and are seeking refuge in the West Africa sub-region, the United States and elsewhere.

The few independent minds that chose to brave the odds and stay in the country are either constantly arrested, intimidated or physically assaulted. On December 14, 2001, reporter Throble Suah of the independent Inquirer newspaper was tailed and brutalized under the cover of darkness by five officers of the ATU. The incident left Suah blind and unable to either stand or sit unaided. He is currently seeking medical attention in Ghana.

On June 24, 2002, Hassan Bility, editor of The Analyst newspaper, was arrested and kept in prison for six months. When he came out of jail, he complained of severe torture in the hands of state security. Bility was released on the condition that the government of the United States takes him out of the country into exile.

As the country prepares for general and presidential elections scheduled for October this year, the MFWA urges the government to respect the role of the media in the building of democracy and to ensure the security of all media practitioners.