Justice for Nurse Mahawa Dumbuya and the Over 200 Victims of Extrajudicial Killings under Julius Maada Bio. A Call for UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, to Investigate Gross Human Rights Violations.

(Photo: 64-year-old retired Nurse Mahawa Dumbuya Conteh, killed by security forces on July 27th 2023, is the latest victim of Mr. Julius Maada Bio's violence and brutality).

Since coming to power in 2018, Mr. Julius Maada Bio’s Government has engaged in an unprecedented use of violence and brutality  against unarmed civilian protesters and non-protesters alike. There is evidence including investigative reports by CNN and BCC that some of those killed during protests were killed inside their homes and offices.

Even though the Government of Sierra Leone led by Mr. Bio abolished the death penalty, it seems this is only a public relations tactic. In reality, he has resorted to extrajudicial killings to deal with political opponents. 

The latest of these killings is a 64-year-old retired Nurse Mahawa Dumbuya who was killed inside the offices of the opposition party HQ as they prepared for a press conference following the June 24th elections. A few days before that, a young man known only by his alias  “white boy”, was shot dead during a protest against perceived bias by the Electoral Commissioner, days before the elections.

Back in August 10, 2022, thousands of people, mainly youths, took part in a cost of living protest that was widely reported by the global media. The protest was met with brute force. Over 20 unarmed civilians were shot dead by police. Retaliatory attacks, albeit unjustified, led to the death of 6 police officers. The anger against the police comes partly because of the anger against the police who went on a killing spree. Some of those killed were shot inside their houses as documented in various BBC and CNN reports. 

In another instance, a famous social media influencer and APC supporter Hassan Dumbuya,  popularly known as Evangelist Samson was extrajudicially executed by security forces in Makeni just after the August 10th protests.  Other protests during the past 5 years have been met with a barrage of bullets by Government forces. In Makeni in 2019, at least 6 people were shot dead by Government forces, when they protested over a generator. Similar killings have taken place in Tombo, a fishing town near Freetown, Thonko Limba and Lunsar. On April 29th, 2020, over 30 prisoners were massacred following a prison riot. In total, we estimate that over 200 unarmed civilians have been extrajudicially executed by the state. 

In all of these killings, there has been no investigation by the state and no one has been held accountable for these killings. Such impunity has no place in our world.

One common feature of the killings is that they have all taken place in regions in which the ethnic groups do not support the president raising suspicion that they are being targeted based on their ethnicity. This suspicion has gained ground given that protests have taken place in the region/districts where the President came from, the reaction of the police have reacted differently. In this instance, the police did not use lethal force and therefore no one was killed.

Arbitrary and indiscriminate arrests of people in opposition strongholds have become rampant, leading to thousands of unlawful detention of opposition or perceived opposition members.

Therefore, we as ordinary citizens of Sierra Leone, owe it to the victims of the 11-year war in our country to call for action to stop the current state of state violence and brutality perpetrated by the state of Sierra Leone led by former military dictator Julius Maada Bio. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) set up after the war documented the role of impunity and gross human rights violation as one of the major causes of the war.

We hereby call on the President of the UN Human Rights Council, Vaclav Balek and in particular, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, to Investigate Gross Human Rights Violations under the leadership of Julius Maada Bio since coming to power in 2018.