29 Rawdon Street, Sierra Leone, Freetown
Cell: +232 78781665/ +232 30 866047
Website: www.nightwatchnewspaper.com/www.facebook.com/thorli078 Email: nightwatchpress@gmail.com/nightwatchpress@protonmail.com
PRESS RELEASE
Arrest and Detention Of Nightwatch Publisher/ Managing Editor, Emmanuel Christian Thorli for Incitement and other offences
Management of Nightwatch Press wish to register their appreciation to all Sierra Leoneans at home and abroad who stand with the Publisher and Managing Editor, Emmanuel Christian Thorli during his detention. Their effort resulted into his release from police custody last Tuesday 27th February, 2024.
The publisher was held in CID (Criminal Investigation Department) custody for Incitement and other offences following February 21, 2024 publication titled: ‘WE CANNOT WAIT FOR BIO TO CONTINUE IN POWER UNTIL 2028’ which was considered as an incitement although no one took to the street as a result of the publication.
The publisher is however being investigated by officers of the Cyber Crime Unit at CID headquarters. The Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ), the umbrella body of media practitioners in the country, lawyers and the Unity Party Leader, Femi Claudius Cole deserve a blanket nod of thanks for their effort restoring the freedom of the Nightwatch publisher.
Counsels Charlie Israel Williams and James Bockarie Sesay were with him while making statements to the police to ensure that his rights are protected and the police fully with the law and investigation procedures.
SLAJ President, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla also canvased the support of journalists, political and security authorities to see the publisher out of police cells.
The lawyers and the SLAJ President made their way into the CID facility amid tight security measures to seek the welfare of the detained publisher, and their visits consoled him in a trying time.
The defence counsels however applied for bail for the publisher to get out of detention last Monday, but police authorities turned down the request.
The publisher was however released the following day, Tuesday under condition that he should report to the CID at 10am daily. During his four-day incarceration, (Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday), Nightwatch Newspaper was not on the newsstands causing public fury and frustration as the people were hungry for news.
The publisher’s ordeal began on a Friday afternoon when two police detectives stormed into Nightwatch office and placed him under arrest without warrant, but cited section 11 of the Criminal Procedure Act (CPA), 1965. The CPA provision used by the detectives was also not properly explained and the offence for which he was arrested was also not specified before the publisher was carted away to the CID headquarters.
As part of the bail conditions, the Nightwatch publisher reports every morning. Friday’s arrest of the Nightwatch Publisher marked the third in a row since 2018. He was first picked up by police officers in January 2019 following a publication titled: ‘300 DIPLOMATIC PASSPORTS FOR PAOPA OFFICIALS AND RELATIVES.’
Mr Thorli was also arrested by police officers in April, 2021 while taking snapshots during a demolition exercise in police presence.
Emmanuel Christian Thorli
Publisher/Managing Editor