IPNEWS: History has once more shown clearly that man’s inner desires and disregard for humanity will continue to ravage the harmony of mankind.

In 1968, the Government of Liberia under late President William V.S. Tubman turned over to the Administration of former Sierra Leonean President Siaka Stevens, former Brigadier General John Amadu Bangura, for his alleged role in a coup to topple the Stevens’ Administration.

The Government of Liberia with assurances from its Sierra Leonean counterpart that Brigadier General Bangura would get a fair trial with all rights protected, failed and the late Brigadier General John Amadu Bangura was gruesomely murdered by operatives of the Siaka Stevens-led government.

Fifty-five years running, another transfer of a political prison, an accused security personnel, has happened. He w as handed over to men dressed in Sierra Leone military uniforms by the Liberian government.

On Tuesday, August 8, the Government of Liberia announced a decision to remove from its territory the former Chief of Police of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Mr. Mohammed Y. Toure – also known as “Sankoh Paul Alimamy” and “Yeate Yeate”, in violation of international treaties.

In a release issued in Monrovia, the Government stated that Mr. Toure was apprehended in Monrovia by Liberian security forces at the request of the Sierra Leonean authorities on the allegation of helping plan subversive activities intended to unseat the Government of President Julius Maada Bio, noting that following preliminary investigations in Liberia and given the assurances of the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone that the rights of the accused will be respected, including his rights to a free, fair and speedy trial, the Liberian Government decided it was appropriate to hand over Mr. Toure to the Government of Sierra Leone as requested by the authorities in that country.

“His handover to the Sierra Leonean Government is in keeping with the laws of Liberia and the 1986 Non-Aggression Security Treaty entered into by the Governments of Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea.  The decision is also in line with the 1994 Ecowas Convention.” Information Minister, Ledgerhood Rennie said in a press statement.

Unimpeachable sources in the Sierra Leonian town of Waterloo, tell the authoritative Independent Probe Newspaper that Mr. Mohammed Y Toure is being held at a Military barrack under heavy military guards.

Prior to his arrest, Mohammed Yaelty Turay had lived with his family in Liberia for nearly a year in the Brewerville community suburb of Monrovia.

Ironically, on January 16, 2020, when the Sierra Leone government rejected the extradition request made by the Liberian government for a top political activist Henry P. Costa en route to America.

President Julius Maada Bio allowed the leader of the Council of Patriots in Liberia Mr. Henry Costa to leave the Freetown Lungi International Airport Onboard Air Maroc thus denying President George Weah’s request to extradite him back to Liberia.

Sierra Leone Information Minister Mr. Mohammed Swaray told the BBC Focus on Africa programme: “We just want to ensure that we fulfill his rights, he himself can attest to that, he’s been very well treated, we cannot take dictation from any other government, we’re a democracy, we value that. We have struggled far too long for democracy and this government is noted for its very strong democratic credential so we will not do anything on the contrary. So, as soon as we have gone through the process, we will do what we have to do.”

As the condemnation continues, the Civil Society Human Rights Advocacy Platform of Liberia has described as unfortunate and against international, regional, and human rights norms and practice, the extradition of the former chief of Sierra Leone National Police Mohammed Y. Toure from Liberia.

Mr. Toure was extradited to his home soil on alleged suspicion of being part of a coup plot in neighboring Sierra Leone.

According to the Secretary General of the Human Rights group Adama Dempster, Liberia as a state party to international and regional human rights treaties should not have hasten the extradition of the former chief of Sierra Leone Police on the basis of his human rights and protection.

“He should have been given due process as an accused person to access the nature of the allegation void of any political grounds of interference” he added.

Moreover, Mr. Dempster pointed out that Liberia should have consulted diplomatic channels and involved Interpol before drawing a conclusion.

He recalled a lesson learned from the request for the extradition of Henry Costa in 2020, the Sierra Leonean government he stated did not yield to Liberia’s request for extradition but rather maintained diplomatic and human rights positions not to turn Mr. Costa over to Liberian Government.

The rights advocate indicated that the Human Rights community views the rushed extradition of Mr. Toure from Liberia to Sierra Leone as unfair and against human rights best practices.

He re-emphasized that Mr. Toure should have been given the opportunity to challenge the allegations he was accused of committing in the extradition request from the Government of Sierra Leone while in Liberia.

“Under the act of EXTRADITION PROCESS IN SIERRA LEONE: Under the Act, every fugitive criminal in Sierra Leone shall be liable to be apprehended and extradited in the manner provided by the Act. “All requests for the extradition of a fugitive criminal shall be addressed through the usual diplomatic channels to the Attorney-General who, if satisfied of the authenticity of the warrant in virtue of which the request for extradition is made, and that any other conditions on which, in the particular case, the extradition depends, appear to be fulfilled, may issue and endorse on, or attach to, the original warrant or request an Order as prescribed in Form 1 in the Sixth Schedule, and the said Order shall be a sufficient authority to apprehend the fugitive criminal and bring him before a Judge or Magistrate.”

The CSO Platform believes that despite Mr. Toure being a Sierra Leonian national, his rights to protection from torture and other inhumane treatment should have been guaranteed by his appearance before a Liberian judge to test the allegation levied against him in the warrant.

He used the occasion to call on the Liberian government to take responsibility and be blamed for failing to protect the basic rights of Mr. Toure if the government of Sierra Leone subjects him to torture and other inhumane treatment.

Mr. Dempster informed our reporter that the civil society and the human rights community in Liberia remain in consultation with its counterparts, the human rights community in Sierra Leone to follow up on the status of Mr Toure;

However, he was quick to point out that The human rights community and civil society condemned in the strongest term the wave of continued coup de tata in the African region.

“We further call on the regional body ECOWAS and African Union to put appropriate measures in place to discourage coups and promote democratic governance in Africa.”, he added.