IPNEWS: An Open Letter to all Liberians and Members of the International Community
Subject: The Joseph Nyuma Boakai Administration’s Violation of my rights
My Fellow Liberians and Members of the International Community:
On behalf of all concerned citizens of Liberia, I write to express my deepest concerns over the gross violations of my fundamental rights by the Joseph Boakai Government when I was summarily arrested, humiliated and incarcerated over trumped up charges, only because I am a member of the opposition community.
For the record, I am a law-abiding citizen of this country, a businessman, a husband, a father, and a political figure who continues to contribute meaningfully to my beloved patrimony. As a member of the opposition community, I am proud of the sterling record set by my political institution, the Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC) which gracefully ceded power to the Unity Party after the December 2023 presidential runoff elections. Since then, I have been quietly living my life as a peaceful citizen who often provides critical analysis about the governance trends in my country.
Fellow Liberians, Members of the International Community, my family: as you are aware, in recent days I have been in the news, having been wrongfully arrested by the Liberia National Police and incarcerated at the Monrovia Central Prison. I would like to address that situation by giving you fact-based information on my ordeal and my perspective.
My Ordeal
A few days ago, like many of you, I chose to pass through central Monrovia. My vehicle, being like yours and using gasoline, I stopped to obtain fuel from the Conex or Total Gas Station at Capitol By-pass. Though I could get refilled, I could not move forward as there was a traffic congestion on the road caused by the police reaction to the peaceful protestors that had assembled in the vicinity of the Capitol Building. Standing at the front of the Gas Station, on the By-pass side, I was contemplating my next steps. Do I simply stand and watch, walk to friends who were still at the used car garage at Jallah’s Town where I once did business, or join the other vehicles to just sit in the traffic?
My contemplation by the side of the road however was rudely interrupted. Police officers jumped out of a pickup which came from nowhere. I heard someone shouting, “there he is.” Suddenly, some police officers started to hit me trying to subdue a person who was not resisting. I was placed without dignity in the back of a pickup like a common criminal. Let it be clear: I had no placard in my hand, no marker in my pocket and no poster sheet on my person. I was not leading any followers, following any figure or converging any comrades. I was just standing, a Liberian citizen, in his nations’ contemplating my next move .
At the LNP Headquarters, I saw a different approach to the handling of a person being arrested. Their interest was in taking my photos and placing me in handcuffs. At no time was I asked for a statement or placed in a position where taking one was possible. I was carried to the basement of the LNP headquarters and even when I attempted to sit on a bench, one of the PSU officers by the name of Mohammed Sheriff assigned directly with Coleman barged in, demanding that I sit on the floor and take off my sneakers. He did not dwell in empty words alone. He threatened that he had a gun on him, and he will use it on me, if I do not follow his instruction, describing himself as an “old rebel.” This led to serious agitation from other persons who were in custody in the basement and this clamor led to other officers coming to take him away.
some minutes after 3PM, I was taken from the basement at the LNP Headquarters and carried to Criminal Court “C.” There, the presiding, who appeared to be rushed, read out charges against us with the entire process being just about nine minutes. According to the charge sheet which read: the Republic of Liberia versus Sekou Kalasco Damaro, and others to be identified, I and others that were arrested were charged with riot, failure to disperse, obstructing highways and other passages, physical obstruction of government function, aggravated assault, criminal mischief, theft of property and disorderly conduct.
We were not asked to bring lawyers. However, a kind lawyer who happened to be in the vicinity informed the judge that we were not served copy of any court precepts, at which point, we were made to sit while the precepts were typed and given to us. At this time, it was a group of about 15 persons who were carried to the court. From Criminal Court “C,” we were bundled and taken to the Monrovia Central Prison at South Beach.
In the first place, the police arraigned me at the court without taking a statement from me. I was taken to court without a single statement from the police. That’s where you know that this thing was targeted. Before you take somebody to court, there must be a statement coming from that person. But in my case, it was the contrary. They brought me here and they gave me a 5G process, only because they believed they could silence me, or they could silence people from voicing out their issues with the national government.
At South Beach, I was placed in Block “D” and shared a cell space equal to a small closet with eight other persons. When I arrived, I was told that persons at the prison received visitors on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. However, while there, no visitors were allowed to me even on the day reserved for visit. But the night was different. A huge squad of plain clothes men descended on the cell block, flashing lights and claiming to be looking for me. Inmates in the block began rattling on their gates and stating, “we will not allow you people to do to him the same thing you did to the Guinea man.” I don’t know who the Guinea man is nor what happened to him.
This attempt failed, I was kept at the prison for one more night before the legal team, including Cllr. James Kumeh, came and obtained our release.
As a matter of fact, I am glad that while I was at the Monrovia Central Prison, I had International Human Rights, people from the European Union, everybody going there to interview me about the reason that I am still in custody. I have officially communicated my ordeal with several international human rights groups and Embassies near Monrovia.
U.S. Embassy Monrovia, Liberia
Independent National Commission on Human Rights – INCHR
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
UN Human Rights Council
