By: Sulaiman Aruna Sesay

The case between Mr. Mohamed Morlu and Sierra Leone in the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States holding at Abuja, Nigeria, has taken a centre stage.

According to report, in November 2016, Mr. Mohamed Morlu was a student at Njala University, Bo City, Southern Province of Sierra Leone, in this period, Lecturers at the University went on a strike for some months that led to the frustration of students. The strike resulted to some negative implications making students to lose academic time when they had already paid tuition and accommodation fees.

In connection to this, the students decided to have a peaceful protest procession to the Ministry of Education office in Bo to meet the Deputy Director Education stationed there. This protest took place sometime in February 2017. The students walked down from their university campus to the office of the Bo Provincial Secretary, then to the office of the Anti-Corruption Commission. From there, they went to the Bo West Police Station, then to the Office of the Ombudsman, and finally proceeded to the office of the Ministry of Education in Bo.

Report also stated that, they met with the Deputy Director of Education, who promised the students that he would discuss their complaints with the Minister of Education and get back to them. But, the students did not hear back from the Deputy Director. After two weeks of waiting for a response from the Deputy Director, the students organised another peaceful protest in February 2017. They went through the same route as the first protest, and again met with the Deputy Director. He promised to solve their problems soon.

According to report, Mr. Mohamed Morlu took part in these two peaceful protests. After the second protest, the students learnt that they would have to forfeit the academic session if the lecturers’ strike lasted for ninety (90) days. By that time, the strike had almost reached the 90-day mark. Thus, the students decided to organise another protest to press home their demands for the government to act to end the lecturers’ strike.

During the procession, the students encountered a police roadblock after leaving the Anti-Corruption Commission office, and while heading to the Bo West Police Station. Unlike the police officers following the procession, the officers at the roadblock were fully armed, and were from the Operations Support Division (OSD) of the Sierra Leone Police. OSD officers wear a different uniform from other members of the Sierra Leone Police.

In the engagement with staff of the Ministry, the students saw two Sierra Leone Police pick-up trucks that were filled with fully-armed OSD officers. The officers were led by Mohamed Turay, alias Yete Yete. The trucks were approaching the students who were peacefully protesting. At this point, some journalists, who had been covering the protest, approached the police trucks to talk to the policemen. These journalists, together with a few students, were promptly arrested by the policemen, and beaten up. The students taking part in the protest realised that the policemen were arresting these journalists and students, and so some students started throwing stones at the policemen to prevent the police from arresting the journalists and students.

The report made it that, after running for about 400 metres, Mr. Morlu and a female classmate decided to stop at a nearby house to ask for water. After getting water from this house, they left the house and walked a few metres. As they walked, Mr. Morlu felt a gunshot in his upper abdomen. He had been shot by one of the OSD officers. Mr. Morlu became unconscious and was rushed to the hospital. He does not know who took him to the hospital. He regained consciousness at the Bo Government Hospital. The doctors there told him he had undergone surgery. He also learnt that the classmate he was with at the time of the shooting, was also shot, and was receiving treatment at the same hospital.

A summary of the plea was recorded as follows, the failure of the Republic of Sierra Leone to conduct an effective investigation into, and to prosecute the perpetrators of, the violence suffered by Mohamed Morlu, and the failure of the Republic of Sierra Leone to compensate him, are violations of his right to a remedy and access to justice; the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone is legally responsible for the violation of the right of Mohamed Morlu to freedom from Torture.

The plaintiff, Mr. Mohamed Morlu was represented by counsel, Gaye Sowe; Member of the Nigerian and Gambian Bars, Edmund Foley, Member of the Ghanaian Bar, Oludayo Fagbemi, Member of the Nigerian Bar, and Eleanor Thompson, Member of the Sierra Leonean Bar.