Treason Arrest Turns into "Investigation"

Treason Arrest Turns into "Investigation"

Posted June 1, 2001

http://www.liberiaorbit.org/

State Security in Monrovia is now "investigating" Hassan Bility, the local editor reportedly arrested on suspicion of treasonable acts earlier.

Our legal correspondent in Monrovia said Hassan Bility, News Editor of the ANALYST Newspaper, has nearly completed a series of interrogations at the head office of the National Security Agency. The journalist is being asked whether he ever sent "sensitive" and "damaging" information about Liberia to outside users.

It may be recalled that the ANALYST offices were stormed earlier last month by agents of the National Security Agency (NSA) in the absence of the Agency's Director, upon a "tip" from the Ministry of Information that the newspaper's editors were clandestinely dispatching negative information about the government. One Pajibo, a computer operator next door, was picked up when the security men could not find any of the newspaper's employees. The paper's computers along with that of Pajibo's were whisked off and have since been at the NSA. Pajibo was later released.

Bility went into hiding, and a search warrant was executed for his arrest. Radio announcements in Monrovia warned him to turn himself in without further delay. Information Minister Reginald Goodridge later said that Bility was being "probed" for "funneling sensitive, anti-government stories" out of the country, according to a publication on the AllaboutLiberia web site.

Various government security agencies announced subsequently that Bility was not wanted for treason, but he was being asked to respond to inquiries about the accusation from the Information Ministry.

In response to Press Union concerns that the ANALYST newspaper itself had stopped publication because the journalists were being intimidated and harassed by the government, Goodridge said the government had not done anything to "hinder the smooth operation of the Analyst newspaper." The Minister forgot to mention that the newspaper's computers were still with the government.

In their charge against Bility, the government did not specify the piece of information in question. But it is believed that the authorities are particularly suspecting the information published by Amnesty International.

The human rights organization accused the government of involvement in the "rampant torture and killing of unarmed citizens" suspected of collaborating with the Lofa armed dissidents. The organization said that suspected rebel sympathizers were tortured with burning plastic and held in holes in the ground at a military base in the town of Gbatala.

Amnesty also said the government's powerful military force, the so-called Anti-Terrorist Unit (ATU), was raping women and torturing suspects. A woman who was three months pregnant was repeatedly raped by the ATU early this month, Amnesty said.

The AI report came a week before the UN Sanctions were imposed on Liberia, and it was imaginable why government functionaries like Goodridge were incensed with the damaging revelation. They decided to direct their venom at local journalists like Hassan Bility, since they could do nothing to the powerful Amnesty International .

In the US State Department Human Rights Reports covering 1998 -1999, Hassan Bility was mentioned as one of those journalists that had been subjected to harassment by the government of Liberia. He was once taken to jail, beaten, released, and then told to report to the Justice Ministry for three months.

The government in March this year arrested four journalists from the NEWS Newspaper and charged them with committing espionage, which the Justice Ministry prosecutor said was a treasonable act punishable by death. The government pointed to a story published in NEWS which said that a government helicopter had been repaired for $50,000.

The publication drew public concern that while the Taylor regime was crying over lack of money being responsible for civil servants not being paid for nearly seven months, the government was "wasting" money on a helicopter. The civil servant monthly salary ranges from US$10-$25. The journalists were later freed, but not without agitation from the University of Liberia students and veteran political activist Togba-Nah Tipoteh, whose life was threatened over the issue.

In the current NSA investigation of Bility and his newspaper, agents have been searching the computers for any evidence of the "damaging" stories. According to our reporter, Bility was made to open his personal email after the agents accessed general files on all of the computers and found nothing "incriminating." The journalist opened his email, and again there was no trace of the "sensitive" information that he was supposed to have emailed.

Our correspondent described the method used by NSA director Freddie Taylor as professional. The correspondent said he reliably learned that the conspiracy theory was hatched from the Ministry of Information in collaboration with the proprietor of a pro-government newspaper in Monrovia.