“36 months in prison for visiting your brother at the police station. This is injustice” Bah
By Alpha Kamara-TVS Washington
A Freetown magistrate court has sentenced 11 accused persons to 36 months imprisonment each for public misbehavior. They are the elder brother and friends of musician LAJ. According to a post from the Sierra Leone’s judiciary, the 11 accused persons were found guilty of 2 counts of riotous conduct and disorderly behavior at the police OSD headquarters in Freetown.
Among the 11 convicts are a music producer, brother and friends of LAJ who visited him at the Benghazi police detention center on June 15. Bah musically called LAJ The Boss was arrested on June 11, 2022, after a fracas at a gas pump station in Freetown with his friends. He is accused of robbery with violence and other related offences.
The popular rapper on his social media page pleaded not guilty to all the charges brought against him. “I want to assure the public and my fans that all the charges against me are false” he posted. That post has gotten over 1.3K comments. His fans are hitting the government and the police very hard against what they call brutality and police excesses against critical voices in the country. LAJ Amadu Bah appears in court again tomorrow June 28, after being in detention for 17 days. His dreadlocks have also been shaved, an action human and legal rights bodies have condemned.
One of the convicts Bintu Takay Bangura went to the CID Benghazi jail to visit her fiancé who was in detention. Her facebook page posted a sad message minutes after the verdict. “We have been sentenced to prison (me and my husband) Rahim Sahid. You all over my son Rahim Junior” she posted.
Meanwhile, members of the Sierra Leone entertainment industry have been raising concerns over the speedy verdict of the issue which has generated high public interest. There have also been continuous protests in front of the Sierra Leone Embassy in Washington DC. The protesters are calling for an end to police brutality and calling for the rapper to be freed because he is innocent.
DJ Kalox urged members of the entertainment industry to show solidarity to their colleagues in jail. “This is not the time to provoke or mock our colleagues in jail. Its time to work together and help them through engagements because we don’t know who will fall tomorrow,” he said
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Karim Bah says “36 months in prison for visiting your brother at the police station? Let’s say they even insulted the police. This is injustice,”.