IFEX - News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

PRESS RELEASE/UPDATE - LIBERIA

10 December 2002

Government releases jailed editor into U.S. custody

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

**Updates IFEX alerts of 29, 25 and 4 October, 5 September, 7 and 2 August,
4, 3 and 2 July 2002**

(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a 9 December 2002 CPJ press release:

LIBERIA: Government releases jailed editor into U.S. custody

New York, December 9, 2002-Liberian authorities released journalist Hassan
Bility, whom authorities had held incommunicado since June 24 as a "prisoner
of war."

According to news reports, Bility, editor of the independent weekly The
Analyst, was released without being charged or tried. He left the country
this weekend for an undisclosed location.

On December 1, the Liberian government issued a statement saying that Bility
and his colleagues would be released if the U.S. Embassy agreed to take them
out of the country.

The BBC quoted Liberia's information minister Reginald Goodridge as saying
that the government wanted to make sure Bility left the country because he
was "a terrorist involved in an Islamic fundamentalist war," and that the
Liberian people were angry at what he and his conspirators had done.

Bility-whose publication has been a regular target of official harassment in
recent years-and two associates, Ansumana Kamara and Mohammed Kamara, were
accused of colluding with the rebel Liberians United for Reconciliation and
Democracy (LURD). 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.

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], 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.
_________________________________________________________________
DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
489 College Street, Suite 403,Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA
tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879
alerts e-mail: [email protected] general e-mail: [email protected]
Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/
_________________________________________________________________