A student of Fourah Bay College, Abdul Conteh, on Monday 12 February 2018, allegedly published a defamatory message against the Sierra Leone Police on a local WhatsApp group.
The social media post in question deals with the elections, alleged bribes and senior members of the Sierra Leone Police. Conteh was arrested and charged with Defamatory Libel contrary to Section 26 of the Public Order Act No.46 of 1965.
Conteh made his first appearance before Magistrate Santigie Bangura of the Siaka Stevens Street Magistrate Court in Freetown on 30 March 2018.
Conteh’s bail application was refused twice and later granted a bail condition of Le100 million.
During the application for bail, A.K. Kamara, defence counsel, informed the Court that the accused has been ill prior to his incarceration and was still sick while in detention. Kamara presented the Court with a medical document to the effect and urged the bench to rule in the accused favour.
On Monday 25 June 2018, Police witness, Alie Turay, informed the Court that the said website from which the accused claimed to have got such information was a fake website and that such website does not exist in Sierra Leone. The witness further informed the Court about the police findings that the source of the said information proved to be non-existent.
The Magistrate has adjourned the matter to 2 July 2018.
SV/25/6/18
By Sylvia Villa
Tuesday June 26, 2018.
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