Sierra Leone said Wednesday it was holding a
journalist in a maximum security prison after a
guest on his radio show criticised President
Ernest Bai Koroma’s handling of the Ebola
outbreak.
David Tam Baryoh, host of the weekly
“Monologue” programme on the private Citizen
FM, was arrested on Tuesday and sent to
Freetown’s notorious Pademba Road jail.
“The detention came from an executive order
which was signed by President Ernest Koroma
and it was executed by the police,” said
government spokesman Abdulai Bayratay.
“The president has the power to do this under the
public order state of emergency regulations which
were approved by parliament in July…. In essence
some freedom and civic freedoms have been
curtailed.”
The arrest followed Baryoh’s show being taken off
air during a live broadcast on November 1,
according to the Committee to Protect Journalists
(CPJ), citing local media.
Baryoh had interviewed an opposition party
spokesman who criticised Koroma and his
government’s handling of the Ebola outbreak.
The host and his guest both also criticised
Koroma’s intention to run for a third term in
office, according to local media.
Bayratay didn’t specify the charges against
Baryoh but said anyone who “obstructs, incites or
has the tendency to undermine the efforts of
government” to fight the epidemic is liable for
arrest.
Pademba Road was built for 324 inmates but
currently houses around 1,200. Government health
experts have linked deaths among prisoners to
acute malnutrition, lack of hygienic conditions,
malaria and heart failure.
Baryoh suffers from high blood pressure,
according to the Sierra Leone Association of
Journalists, which urged the authorities to provide
“urgent medical attention”.
The organisation said Baryoh had been examined
in custody by a doctor who was recommending
that he be placed in hospital “to avoid a crisis”.
Sierra Leone is one of the nations worst affected
by the largest Ebola outbreak on record, with
more than 1,500 deaths.
“Sierra Leone’s genuine state of emergency
means that critical thinking and public debate are
more important than ever. Locking away
journalists without charge helps nobody,” said
Peter Nkanga, the CPJ’s west Africa
representative.
“We call on President Ernest Bai Koroma to ensure
that David Tam Baryoh is released immediately
and that journalists are allowed to do their jobs
freely.”
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