His Excellency Charles Taylor
President
Republic of Liberia
Monrovia
Liberia

Fax: (+231) 226 360

Vienna, 17 July 2002

Your Excellency,

The International Press Institute (IPI), the global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists, is deeply concerned at the latest arrests of journalists critical of the Liberian government.

According to information provided to IPI, on 4 July security forces arrested and detained senior reporter, Bobby Tapson, and judicial reporter, Sherrif Adams, who are employed by The News. Both journalists were arrested for their alleged role in a 4 July edition of the newspaper entitled, “Terror Descends On Monrovia”. The report stated that dead bodies were being discovered on the streets of the capital. After spending more than an hour in police custody they were released after officials realised they were not involved in publishing the story.

Subsequently, The News’s reporter George Bardue and editor Jerome Dalieh attended police headquarters due to their involvement in the news report. The two men were held for over two hours before being released.

Aside from the above, Hassan Bility, editor of The Analyst newspaper, was arrested by security forces on 24 June. Bility is being held for his alleged connection to remove the government of Charles Taylor. Despite a court order, awarded after human rights lawyers sought a writ of habeas corpus, the Liberian government has failed on two separate occasions to produce Bility. In consequence, there are genuine fears for his life and there has been speculation that the journalist may have been murdered while being held in custody.

On the same day as the arrests of Tapson and Adams, a Liberian staff member at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), Suku Wesseh, was also arrested. Wesseh is the brother of Conmany Wesseh, the exiled Executive Director of the Centre for Democratic Empowerment.

Unfortunately for press freedom in Liberia, the most recent arrests are only the latest in a steady wave of attacks on the media. There are signs that reports on the conflict between government forces and the rebel Liberians United for Democracy and Reconciliation (LURD) have so unnerved the president that he is determined wipe out the remaining elements of the independent media in the war torn country.

During the previous 18 months both The Analyst and The News have suffered the close attentions of the government. In February 2001, The Analyst and The News was closed down along with two other media organisations for allegedly failing to pay back taxes. They were later allowed to reopen. Almost exactly one year later, four journalists with The Analyst newspaper were arrested and held for 24 hours. All four were accused of writing articles that were “not out for peace” and which “poisoned the minds of the people”. On 26 April, The Analyst’s offices were closed for a month after a police search. They were later re-opened on the orders of the president.

With the above in mind, IPI calls upon Your Excellency and the Liberian government to end speculation about Bility by releasing him. IPI also requests Your Excellency to change your policy towards the media. Indeed, IPI would remind you that the media form an essential element of democracy and that, by seeking to prevent free and open reporting, Your Excellency is further damaging the reputation of Liberia in the eyes of the international community.

Therefore, IPI calls upon Your Excellency to reaffirm the right of the media “to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of borders”, as defined by Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours sincerely,

Johann P. Fritz
Director