Retired Col Joseph Sheku Jalloh and nine youths are still held in deplorable police cells at the Mena police, Makeni, North East, following their arbitrary arrest in Sambaia Bendugu since Tuesday 7 June 2022 allegedly for riotous conduct and disorderly behaviour.
They are all supporters of the opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) party with Jalloh being the campaign manager for the Constituency 056 by-election.
Rtd Col Jalloh’s and others’ arbitrary arrests and illegal detention on orders from above may not be unconnected with their participation in a parliamentary by-election campaign rally of the main opposition All Peoples Congress (APC) in Constituency 056, Tonkolili district.
Since then, they are yet to be granted bail or charged to court for prosecution.
The parliamentary by-election emerged after Alhaji Musa Bamba Foray Jalloh III was duly elected Paramount Chief of Sambaia Chiefdom, which prepared the stage for the re-election of a Member of Parliament to fill the vacant seat in the House.
But the process was characterised by violence and high-placed political intimidation allegedly masterminded by Alhaji PC Musa Bamba Foray Jalloh III of Sambaia Chiefdom. Chief Jalloh held the seat under the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party ticket since 2018 to the time of his vying for the paramount chief position of Sambaia Chiefdom.
So far, Retired Col Joseph Sheku Jalloh and nine youths are still in police detention even after the by-election in which the main opposition APC defeated the incumbent SLPP.
The APC may have won the parliamentary by-election in Constituency 056 but their comrades, more than 10 of them, including their campaign manager, Rtd Col Joseph Sheku Jalloh, are still being detained, not charged or bailed.
Rights and civic groups in the country have called on police authorities to grant bail to the detainees and charge them to court as it is unlawful to keep a suspect in detention for more than seventy-two hours without charging him or her to court.
