IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
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PRESS RELEASE/UPDATE - LIBERIA

25 October 2002

Military calls jailed editor "prisoner of war"

SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York

**Updates IFEX alerts of 4 October, 5 September, 7 and 2 August, 4, 3 and 2
July 2002**

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 24 October 2002 CPJ press release:

LIBERIA: Military calls jailed editor "prisoner of war"

New York, October 24, 2002-The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)
deplores the recent recommendation by a five-member military tribunal that
editor Hassan Bility, who has been detained since June 24, be treated as a
"prisoner of war."

According to a Liberian Defense Ministry statement, Bility, editor of the
independent weekly The Analyst, is a prisoner of war because he allegedly
colluded with the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy
(LURD), reported The Associated Press.

Bility, whose paper has been a regular target of official harassment in
recent years, was detained along with two associates-Ansumana Kamara and
Mohammed Kamara. The Liberian government admits to holding the three men,
but their whereabouts remain a mystery.

Soon after the journalists were detained, Winston O. Henries, a judge in the
capital, Monrovia, ordered the government to produce the accused men in
court by July 1. Authorities were later granted a two-day extension to
comply but failed to do so, arguing that the detainees were "unlawful
combatants" who would be tried before a military court.

On July 25, the Court Martial Board, Liberia's military court, gave the
Defense Ministry an August 7 deadline to produce Bility. But the ministry
voided the military court's writ, allegedly because the military judges who
issued the decision were not authorized to do so.

"This ruling by the military tribunal is absurd," said CPJ executive
director Ann Cooper. "We are gravely concerned that the government, which
acknowledges holding Bility, has failed to present him in any courtroom."

The LURD has been waging an armed struggle along Liberia's border with
Guinea in a bid to topple the government of President Charles Taylor.

According to United Nations estimates, the conflict has so far resulted in
more than 200,000 refugees, with both sides perpetrating serious human
rights abuses, including murder and rape.

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information about press
conditions in Liberia, visit www.cpj.org.

For further information, contact Yves Sorokobi (ext. 112), Wacuka Mungai
(ext. 106) or Adam Posluns (ext. 107) at CPJ, 330 Seventh Ave., New York, NY
10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212 465 9568, e-mail:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], Internet:
http://www.cpj.org/

The information contained in this press release/update is the sole
responsibility of CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication,
please credit CPJ.
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