January 13, 2022
BY: MOHAMED SAHR
Civil Society Organizations have urged the Government of Sierra Leone in a press release on Wednesday 12th January 2022 to review cases of women and girls in detention who were overlooked in the Presidential Pardon Process.
Amongst the leading Civil Society Organizations operating in Sierra Leone, AdvocAid and Purposeful felt agitated as a result of some unwelcome situation of which five women out of one hundred and sixty (160) incarcerated people were pardoned during the New Year’s Day Presidential pardons.
According to the press release, no women imprisoned in Correctional Centres in the provinces were pardoned.
Zynad Binta Kamara, Executive Director of AdvocAid disclosed that a number of women who are imprisoned with young children were not considered for a Presidential Pardon despite international and regional standards which stress that alternatives to imprisonment should be preferred in these cases.
She said in Bo Correctional Centre there is a woman with a young baby who is serving a seven-year sentence. ‘‘These facilities do not have the appropriate medical, educational or support service for such children who are at risk during detention,’’ Zynad Binta Kamara said.
She revealed that two girls who were convicted were as well not considered for the pardon. Adding that one of these girls was imprisoned at the Bo Remand Home, serving an eighteen-month sentence for larceny; and has just been transferred to the Approved School in Freetown.
Nicky Spencer-Coker, Head of Advocacy and Movement Building detailed in a press release that in Waterloo Correctional Centre, a woman is detained with a five (5) month old baby for fraudulent conversion otherwise known as debt. She said the woman has been granted bail but cannot find a surety and has been detained for another four (4) months.
AdvocAid and Purposeful are concerned that several men were pardoned for serious offences such as murder, wherein women and girls convicted for lesser offences were not considered for pardon.
They said there is a woman with a young child who is imprisoned in Kenema Correctional Centre for fraudulent conversion (debt) and is serving a sentence of on year and two months.
AdvocAid and Purposeful encouraged the Government to review the pardon process that which should be open and transparent with key criteria for when a pardon will be considered.
They added that the process should also open to submission from legal representatives and other civil society organizations.
AdvocAid and Purposeful call on the Government of Sierra Leone to review the cases of all women and girls currently detained in police stations and detention facilities across the country and to consider then for early release measures and alternatives to incarceration especially women and girls who are pregnant or detained with young children.
They also call on the Government in light of the tragic case of a baby who died in a police cell in Makeni as well heed calls by the United Nations and World Health Organization to facilitate early release of people in detention in order to reduce overcrowding considering the rising number of COVID 19 cases.