Police Declares Adams Conteh & Others Wanted
Report reaching this medium reveal that one Alhaji Adams Conteh, and some of his friends, have been declared wanted by the Sierra Leone Police (SLP), for allegedly conspiring with others during the August 8th 9th 10 August 2022 protests, which turned violent, resulting in the deaths of police officers and civilians.
Investigation mounted by this medium revealed that Alhaji Adams happened to be a Youth leader of the main opposition party, the All People’s Congress (APC), as he hails from the Northern region, which is the stronghold of the APC Party, and was accused of being one of the ring leaders that organized the August 8th to 10th riot, as the ruling Sierra Leone People’s Party (SLPP) government had associated that party with the protests.
Against this backdrop, when the protest turned violent on August 10, the security forces, armed to the teeth, went on a rampage shooting protesters at point blank range. To make matters worse, known supporters of the main opposition party were targeted, with some of them shot in their homes, whilst others taken away to unknown locations and never returned. As the situation became tense, a curfew as declared by the government.
Sources and video footages showed security forces breaking down doors of homes pointed out by ruling party youths, as residence of supporters of the main opposition party and Some of the inmates of those homes were man-handled and bundled into unregistered government jeeps and taken away.
The actions by the security forces were reported on social media and other channels that many known operatives and sympathizers of the main opposition party began to abandon their homes for safer haven.
In the case of Alhaji Adams Conteh, he is said to have gone to school, and on his return home, was chased by the police in the company of ruling party youths, who identified him as a supporter of the APC, and an operative in the planning of the protest.
Alhaji is said to have managed to run away from his house, but was chased by the armed officers and the ruling party youths. Eyewitnesses say that they saw him running down the street into a corner, in hot pursuit by the armed men, but since then, he has not returned, nor do they have any information about his whereabouts.
Many missing persons of that protest have not been seen, whilst the government seem to downplay the numbers of the dead among civilians. There are many reports that many people were shot and carted away on the unregistered vehicles of the security forces, and their whereabouts have not been known. Relatives of missing persons have been afraid to confront the police to enquire about their loved ones for fear of not being arrested on some trumped up charges of conspiracy. Even the main mortuary in Freetown was heavily guarded by armed police, preventing people from identifying their loved ones.
According to the mother of Adams Contheh, the last time she set her eyes on her son was the 18th August, After the protest, since then she had not heard from him.
She was worried about his safety, especially as he is her youngest son, having lost her daughter some time ago. She furthered that she tried his phone to ascertain his well-being, but to no avail.
Madam Conteh, said she went in search of her son, but has not been able to find him. “I have only two children, and the girl is dead, Adams is the only one I have left now, if I don’t see him I will definitely kill myself, because there is no reason for me to live as a woman without a child” Madam Conteh cried out.
Family members of Alhaji Conteh and others in similar plight have not been able to get any positive information from the government, some are even fearful of enquiring about their loved ones. Even corpses taken from the streets to the main mortuary have not been identified by their families for fear of being arrested and branded as accomplices.
Most Civil Society Activists have raised concern over the way and manner in which the police are going about to arrest people, especially those that belong to the main opposition party, or are known to be supporters of the APC Party, as the case of Alhaji Adams is just one.
The police spokesman, in a press conference disclosed that a number of people have been declared wanted and a list prepared, but that some others are also wanted and are being sought after. They vowed to find them and bring them to justice. He refused to be drawn on reports of extra-judicial killings by the security forces.
The government of Sierra Leone’s Human Rights record is now questionable, as one can now count on the Pademba Road, Tombo, Lunsar, Mile 91 and the Makeni Killings, that have all raised eyebrows as to the government’s commitment to its National and international obligations.
As we go to press the whereabouts of Alhaji Adams Conteh are unknown, and he is even feared dead.
