By Aminata Phidelia Allie
The editor and managing editor of the Independent Observer newspaper were yesterday walked as free men again after spending 19 days in detention. Jonathan Leigh and Bai Bai Sesay had each been granted bail on Monday by a Freetown high court in the sum of Le 500 million and two sureties, one of whom must deposit their titled deed to the court Master and Registrar. They failed to meet the stiff bail bond which meant that they had to spend another night at the maximum security Pademba Road prison.
The two are before Justice Abdulai Cham on 26 counts of seditious libel for an article they published on 17 October which allegedly defamed President Ernest Bai Koroma.
They had spent six days in police detention before they were charged and later taken to prison and twice refused bail by magistrate Komba Kamanda.
On Monday they were due to reappear before the magistrate but were taken back to the CID headquarters before being indicted for the second time, this time to appear before a high court. No pleas were taken.
Reapplying for bail on behalf of the accused persons before Justice Cham, lead defense lawyer, Ansu Lansana observed that the accused were “neither charged with murder nor treason”, adding that “the offence is bailable”.
He pointed out that the accused did not pose any flight risk and that they had neither planned to obstruct the course of justice nor did they have any intention to repeat the publication.
“They have made indications to retract or tender an apology but that does not point to the fact that they may repeat the article if released”, Lansana said.
But the lead prosecutor, Gerald Soyei, objected to the application arguing that “due to the gravity of the offences for which they are charged, there is every tendency of them doing it again if released”.
He further objected saying that so far the accused persons’ incarceration had been “fair and lawful”.
Justice Cham, after listening to both arguments ruled that the main issue to be determined so far was whether or not the accused were guilty or innocent, adding: “that does not mean that they have to be deprived of their rights”.
He granted the accused bail in the sum of Le 500 million each and two sureties. Sureties should be residents of the Western Area, one of them should surrender their titled deed to the master and registrar of the court. But bail conditions were not met and the journalists we sent to prison again until such a time when their sureties could meet the bond.
Also, the accused persons were ordered to surrender all travel documents to the court and should report to the master and registrar every Friday. It was also ordered that they be served with the new indictment against them within seven days. The matter was adjourned to Monday, 18 November for trial.
Meanwhile the prosecution has, on the orders of the upper court, applied for a discharge of the case against the two journalists in the lower court.
Soyei told magistrate Komba Kamanda of the Freetown Court No. 2 that the matter was now before the High Court and that “you should decline your jurisdiction of the matter”.
The application was granted.
Reacting to the release SLAJ president Kelvin Lewis said: “I am relieved that my colleagues are now out of jail. I hope we can all now begin to work to put this sad chapter behind us, and continue the very important work of making this country better.”
In a press release he called on President Ernest Bai Koroma “to make true his promise to review the seditious and criminal libel laws and ensure that no journalist is jailed again under these laws.”
Meanwhile the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for all charges to be dropped against the journalists.
“Charges against our two colleagues must be dropped. The Authorities must understand that they are assuming challenging tasks via a mandate from the population. They must accept legitimate criticism,” said Gabriel Baglo, IFJ Africa director in a press release.
“We consider this as very paradoxical as on October 31 the President himself gave his assent to the Right to Access information Act 2013 in a bid to support the government’s policy of implementing reforms to promote and reinforce democracy and good governance,” he added.
© Politico 06/11/13
