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Liberia
804. By letter dated 2 September 2002, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information on the following individual cases.
805. William Kesseley, Bockarie Musa, Kota Doga and Dennis Samurai, four staff members of the Liberian Broadcasting Service (LBS), were reportedly arrested on 25 March 2002 by police. The four men were said to have been held in custody for several days in Police headquarters before they were brought to court. In detention, William Kessely was allegedly hung upside down, flogged at different times with a cane and an electric cable by other inmates reportedly acting on the orders of the police. The other staff members were reportedly also flogged in the police cells.
806. Emmanuel Mondaye, a reporter from the Inquirer, an independent newspaper, was reportedly arrested in Gbargna by Liberian security forces on 11 May 2002, and taken to the National Police headquarters in Monrovia where he was held for several days. He was reportedly picked up by the Liberian security forces after he saw ATU soldiers looting a United Nations office in Gbarnga. They reportedly arrested him, stripped him naked, and flogged him. He was reportedly released on 23 May 2002.
807. By letter dated 11 September 2002 sent jointly with the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the Special Rapporteur advised the Government that he had received information according to which several women had been raped by the Liberian security forces during fighting between them and forces of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) on 9 May 2002 in Gbargna town.
808. Fatu Kollie was reportedly raped by a member of the Liberian security forces behind the Gbarnga Methodist School, in Gbarnga, on 9 May 2002. 809. Annie Goll was reportedly gang-raped by four men from a band of government militia fighters, inside the Gboveh High Building in Gbargna town, on 9 May 2002.
810. Hawa Flomo was reportedly abducted and held for two days while she was believed to have been repeatedly raped by a member of the Anti terrorist Unit (ATU), near the Cuttington University College, on 9 May 2002.
811. A 23-year-old displaced woman was reportedly arrested by Government security forces at Sherman Farm, located between Bo ng Mines and Kakata, Margibi County on 20 February 2002. The woman was reportedly gang-raped and then severely flogged by members of the security forces leading to severe bruising on her body.
812. A 14-year-old girl, KF, was allegedly gang raped in February 2002 by seven members of the ATU in Sawmill, Bomi County. She was said to have been fleeing from Sawmill during a supposed attack on the area. Under the guise of coming to rescue her, ATU members reportedly took her to a tent and held her there for six days, during which time all seven were believed to have repeatedly raped her.
813. By letter dated 17 October 2002, the Special Rapporteur reminded the Government of a number of cases transmitted in 2001 regarding which no reply had been received.
Urgent appeals
814. On 30 April 2002, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteurs on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, on the right to freedom of opinion and expression and on the independence of judges and lawyers, the Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special Representative on human rights defenders on Tiawan Gongloe, a human rights lawyer, who was arrested on 21 April 2002 and was allegedly stripped naked and then severely beaten through the night.As a result, he reportedly has difficult in hearing, his left eye is swollen and bloodied and his head and body are said to be badly bruised. After the pressure from lawyers, the police reportedly brought him to the Cooper Hospital where he is said to be receiving treatment. He appears to have been arrested in connection with a speech he gave at a March 2002 conference in Guinea on peace in the Mano River Union, which was printed in The Analyst newspaper, in which he stated that civil society groups could play a role in the attainment of peace in the Mano River Union and condemned the use of violence by the State.
815. On 27 June 2002, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression on behalf of Hassan Bility, editor of the Analyst, a newspaper that had allegedly been closed down twice in the past as a result of writing and publishing articles deemed critical of the government. He was reportedly arrested on 24 June 2002 along with three other persons by two plain clothes men who are believed to belong to the Criminal Investigation Division of the Liberia National Police. At the time of his arrest, he was allegedly slapped and kicked. He was held in incommunicado detention. He was thought to have been arrested on suspicion of operating a Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) Terrorist Cell in Monrovia. On 13 May 2002 he had received a death threat from a colonel in the Liberian National Police who accused him of writing against President Taylor. This threat reportedly came in relation to a speech by Taiwan Gongloe (see above) the contents of which were considered as threatening to the government and its national security.
816. On 12 July 2002, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression on behalf Hassan Bility (see above) who had allegedly disappeared from custody. On 2 July, state lawyers reportedly failed for the second time to produce him for trial, claiming he was not in state custody although Information Minister reportedly said on 25 June that he was undergoing investigation at the national security agency.
817. On 30 September 2002, the Special Rapporteur sent a joint urgent appeal with
the Special Rapporteur on the right to freedom of opinion and expression, the
Chairman-Rapporteur of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention and the Special
Representative on human rights defenders on behalf of Sheikh K.M. Sackor, the
Executive Director of Humanist Watch, a human rights non-governmental
organization, who was arrested on 25 July 2002 and whose whereabouts had since
then remained undisclosed. Fears were again expressed regarding the whereabouts of
Hassan Bility, who suffers from malaria, and was allegedly being denied access to
medical care. Mohammad Kamara and Ansumana Kamara who were reportedly
arrested together with Hassan Bility on 24 June, by two men in plain clothes believed
to be members of the Criminal Investigation Division of the National Police, are
believed to remain held at the National Security Agency (NSA). All four men have
reportedly been accused of belonging to the armed opposition Liberians United for
Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD). It was alleged that none has however been
charged with any offence. Writs of habeas corpus filed by lawyers on their behalf
have reportedly been blatantly disregarded. Finally, the Special Rapporteur welcomed
the information according to which Moriah Sando Nyenetue had been released
without charge in early September. At the time of her arrest on 20 August, fears had
been expressed that she may have been detained solely because of her connection with
Hassan Bility, by whom she has a child.
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Lebanon
Libyan Arab Jamahiriya
This report has been published by Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights on August 2, 2005.