Friends, You may recall that Dr. Alie Kabba, a candidate for President of Sierra Leone in the upcoming 2017 elections, was arrested last Wednesday by President Koroma and his APC government of Sierra Leone for being critical of the government's human rights record and rampant corruption. As a result of our initial outrage and pressure on President Koroma and his APC government, Dr. Kabba was released Thursday under the most stringent bail conditions known in the long history of APC suppression of dissent in Sierra Leone. Dr. Kabba's travel documents have been seized and he is now under a gag order not to hold any press conferences, and to refrain from saying anything critical of President Koroma and his APC government. It is important to note that Chapter 3 Article 15b of the 1991 Constitution of Sierra Leone guarantees "freedom of conscience, of expression and of assembly and association." It is therefore evident that President Koroma and his APC government are violating not only Dr. Kabba's constitutional rights to free speech, but the Constitution of Sierra Leone itself. This infringement on the basic constitutional rights of the people was the primary reason for multiple military coups and the subsequent breakdown of law and order that culminated into 10 years of a bloody civil war that killed hundreds of thousands of Sierra Leoneans and left tens of thousands more, including babies, amputated. It was only through the sacrifices of the international community led by ECOWAS (the West African Economic Community), the European Union, the United States and UN that the war was brought to a stop. The UN deployed over 15 thousand troops to keep the peace at an enormous cost largely financed by US taxpayers. UN peacekeepers in Sierra Leone came from all over the world without whose sacrifices peace would have been impossible. After 15 years of keeping the peace in Sierra Leone the UN folded its operations in 2005 and closed the mission with a success. In 2007 President Ernest Bai Koroma of the APC party took power from outgoing President Ahmed Tejan Kabbah of the SLPP. In 2012 President Koroma won a second election for his final term. Now, as the country prepares for another presidential election in 2017 Mr. Koroma's APC party are seeking to amend the constitution to extend his term as it was done in Burundi, a situation that has left hundreds of people dead in the war-ravaged country. We are therefore calling on the international community, particularly the United States, to bear pressure on President Koroma and his APC government to uphold the rule of law and allow political opponents to travel across the country freely and campaign without intimidation. As the beneficiary of a democratic process, it is the moral and legal responsibility of President Koroma and his APC government to respect the rule of law and ensure a smooth transfer of power to the next democratically elected President of Sierra Leone. The international community should act now to prevent a return to the excesses that necessitated the civil war that killed so many, and for which so many countries sacrificed so much with life and and their taxpayers' money. Please continue to support this petition until Dr. Alie Kabba is free without any unlawful condition, and until all political opponents of Present Koroma are free to campaign without restrictions and intimidation. Your support is an indication that together we reject tyranny and advocate for democracy and the rule of law as the ultimate vehicles for the expression of human freedom and development. Thank you for your support.