UPDATE (June 17, 2020): Dr. Sheikh Umarr Kamarah spent 12 days in police detention in Freetown, Sierra Leone, held without charges. He was conditionally released on Monday, June 15. He's been mandated to report to police in Freetown daily, though he still has not been charged with a crime. This disrupts his life and liberty. Dr. Kamarah is innocent. He should be immediately and unconditionally freed from the clutches of Sierra Leone’s broken legal system. We are still asking for his freedom.

Dr. Sheikh Umarr Kamarah is a US citizen who has been arbitrarily detained by police in Sierra Leone since June 3. Dr. Kamarah is innocent. He should be immediately and unconditionally released.

Dr. Kamarah has been a linguistics professor at Virginia State University for over 20 years. A devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother, and uncle, he has spent his life in service to his family, his native Sierra Leone, and his American home.

Dr. Kamarah facilitates community initiatives for SL Mining in Sierra Leone. The Sierra Leonean government has been in dispute with SL Mining for some time. When a deadly riot erupted in the mining town of Lunsar, Dr. Kamarah and his colleagues were wrongly accused of inciting it. Dr Kamarah has never incited or condoned violence in any way and would never be involved in anything that would destroy the community he works with, his homeland.

Dr. Kamarah was shocked to learn he was wanted by police in connection to the riot, and he responsibly turned himself in for questioning. However, he has been held since June 3 without being charged with any crime. 

We are asking the government to release Dr. Kamarah. As an older person In detention, he is in jeopardy of contracting the potentially fatal coronavirus that is currently ravishing Freetown. He is INNOCENT and deserves to be free.