Security forces in Monrovia on July 4, 2002 arrested and detained senior reporter Bobby Tapson and judicial reporter Sheriff Adams, both of The News newspaper.

According to information reaching the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the journalists were arrested in connection with a publication in the July 4, 2002 edition of The News, headlined: “Terror Descends On Monrovia”. The paper reported the discovery of dead bodies of people in the streets of Monrovia in recent weeks. Residents of Monrovia, in recent weeks, have been tense as dead bodies are found in places around the city regularly.

The arrest and detention of Tapson and Adams bring to three the number of journalists arrested by state security in the past two weeks. The editor of The Analyst newspaper, Hassan Bility was on June 24 arrested by security forces for his alleged connection with a coup plot to overthrow the government of Charles Taylor. Since his arrest, the Taylor government has failed on two occasions to produce Bility in court despite a court order, following a writ of habeas corpus filed by human rights lawyers.

On the same day of the arrests of Tapson and Adams, state security personnel also arrested Suku Wesseh, a Liberian staff of the UNHCR, and brother of Conmany Wesseh, exiled Executive Director of the Centre for Democratic Empowerment.

The MFWA is worried about the safety of independent journalists in Liberia in the wake of the fast deteriorating state of human rights under President Charles Taylor’s regime. The MFWA requests you to kindly protest against the detention of the journalists and the Taylor government’s campaign to silence independent media in the country.

The editor of The Analyst, Hassan Bility, and two others detained June 24 on allegations of a plot to overthrow the Liberian government are feared dead in the hands of state security, according to human rights sources in Monrovia. The government, despite a court order, failed to produce the three in court on two occasions, after human rights lawyers filed a writ of habeas corpus.

Bility and the two others were arrested on June 24 for allegedly operating a ‘terrorist cell’ for the LURD dissidents fighting the government of President Charles Taylor. Authorities said the security intercepted an ‘email communication’ to Bility from exiled opposition politician, Alhaji Kromah, which provided details of the alleged coup plot against the government.

According to information gathered by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), Bility has not been seen by his family members since his arrest, while efforts by human rights lawyers to locate him have proved futile. In addition, all state security agencies have denied having Bility and the others in their custody, though the government publicly admitted detaining them.

The MFWA is deeply concerned about the security of Bility. Our concern is based on the disappearance of seven Liberian refugees arrested in an UNHCR vehicle by state security in June 2000. The Liberian government claimed the returning refugees were dissidents plotting to overthrow the government after a photograph of an opposition politician was found with one of the returnees. They were charged with treason but their whereabouts remain unknown to date, despite legal challenges to the government to produce them in a court of law.

Bility has been targeted for torture and abuse by Taylor’s government over the years for his journalistic work. In 1998, for example, Taylor’s security agents arrested and tortured him until he bled through the ears for an editorial in The National newspaper criticizing the brutal methods of then Police Director Joe Tate.

In May 2001, security agents confiscated the computers of The Analyst on claims that he used the computers to send subversive information to opposition leader Alhaji Kromah. Bility at the time came out of hiding only after the Press Union of Liberia negotiated his freedom with the Taylor government.

The MFWA urges human rights organizations and individuals interested in freedom to demand that President Charles Taylor personally ensures that Bility and the two others are safe and brought out into the public and charged in a court of law if they are suspected of any crime.

We therefore request you to make your protest about the prolonged detention of journalist Bility by the Taylor’s government without charge.

Security forces in Monrovia on Monday June 24, 2002 arrested and detained Hassan Bility, news editor of the independent The Analyst newspaper. The security accused Bility of being part of an alleged “terrorist cell” plotting to overthrow the government of President Charles Taylor. This means the journalist would be charged with treason which is a first-degree felony in the Liberian justice system and punishable by death.

Information Minister Reginald Goodridge said the security intercepted an e-mail communication to Bility from exiled opposition politician, Alhaji Kromah, which provided details of the alleged coup. Kromah was a rival faction leader to Mr. Taylor during the civil war and also headed the All Liberian Coalition Party (ALCOP), which came second in the 1997 presidential elections. Bility and Kromah belong to the same Mandingo ethnic group.

Bility, together with his newspaper, The Analyst, has been a victim of the recent spate of harassment and proscription of independent journalists and media houses in Liberia.

In April, when The Analyst carried the text of a speech made by Tiawan Gongloe, a prominent human rights lawyer who was brutally tortured in police cells, security forces shut down the offices of the newspaper and launched a manhunt for Bility. In May 2001, state security forces confiscated the computers of The Analyst and declared Bility “wanted.” He was accused of subversion for allegedly sending information to Mr. Kromah. Bility remained underground until the Press Union of Liberia negotiated his freedom.

In 1998 officers of the Special Operation Division (SOD) of the Liberia National Police, acting upon the orders of Police Director Joe Tate, arrested and flogged Bility, then editor of The National Newspaper. Bility bled through the nose and ears as a result of the torture inflicted on him.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is concerned about the safety of Bility and the perilous state of media freedom in Liberia. We urge President Taylor to restrain his government’s security forces from the persistent persecution of Mr Bility, and respect the fundamental principles of human rights – which include the legitimate practice of independent journalism and the freedom to hold or receive information – in the country.

The MFWA requests you to kindly appeal against the latest arrest and incarceration of Mr Bility and the unproven grounds upon which he is being held.