Authorities in Sierra Leone have outraged rights campaigners by deporting a close ally of convicted Liberian war criminal, ousted president Charles Taylor days before he was due to stand trial on charges including false imprisonment, kidnapping, assault, and making death threats.
Ibrahim Bah has been named by United Nations’ experts as an intermediary for Taylor’s arms deliveries to Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, notorious for using child soldiers and hacking off the limbs of civilians. He has been targeted by a UN travel ban and had his assets frozen since 2004 for his alleged links to arms and diamond trafficking but has so far avoided prosecution despite pressure from rights groups. The charges against him had been brought by a private citizen.
The plaintiff says Bah threatened to kill him and held him against his will for several days. The private case was filed after it became clear that Sierra Leone authorities had no interest in trying Bah, who United Nations experts discovered living in Sierra Leone earlier this year. His whereabouts were unknown until the experts released their report in May.
Responding to questions regarding President Ernest Bai Koroma’s order to deport Bah to his native Senegal on July 27, Sierra Leone’s Controller of Immigration Operations Abdulai Timbo said:
“We do not need a reason. The president does not want him here. He is persona non-grata.”
Justice Minister and Attorney General Frank Kargbo said he was not aware that Bah was due to appear in court on Monday (August 12) and the complainant’s accusations had no bearing on the decision to deport him.
In an interview with Reuters news agency at the weekend, Bah admitted supporting Taylor’s rebel National Patriotic Front of Liberia (NPFL) but denied dealing in weapons. He described himself as a “revolutionary brother” of RUF leader Foday Sankoh, who died in 2003 while awaiting trial for war crimes.
“I never bought or sold arms in my life. I fought alongside the NPFL but I never fought inside Sierra Leone a single minute,” Bah said.
“Bah’s deportation represents a real step backward for Sierra Leone,” Elise Keppler, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, told Reuters.
“The government has in effect blocked the private prosecution against Bah and ignored the interests of victims who suffered heinous crimes in which (he) is implicated during the country’s civil conflict,” she said.
Charles Taylor was sentenced to 50 years in prison last year by the UN -mandated Special Court for Sierra Leone for providing weapons, food, medical supplies, fuel and equipment to forces that committed atrocities during the country’s 1991-2002 conflict in which more than 50,000 people died.
