Harelimana meets Sierra Leone court officials

The minister of internal security, Mussa Fazil Harelimana, yesterday met with the visiting delegation from the Special Court for Sierra Leone. They discussed the state of Sierra Leonean wars crimes prisoners who are currently serving their sentences in Mpanga, Southern Province.. “The delegation has met with our side to review the recommendations and instructions on issues to do with money and access to telephones”, the minister said. Eight war crimes prisoners were sentenced by the Special Court for Sierra Leone jointly by the Government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations and are serving their respective sentences, ranging from 15- 52 years. They claim that their living conditions are not satisfactory. The allegations by the prisoners prompted a two woman delegation composed of Binta Mansaray the, court’s registrar and her deputy Fidelma Donlon, to come and verify the concerns raised by the convicts. Harelimana noted that every inmate is supposed to use $150 for communication every month which they fail to exhaust prompting taking back money to the court. “Their issue has been that they want the unutilized money on telephony to be paid to them in cash which we cannot do as government because we implement the recommendations of the special court for Sierra Leone”, he said. According to a source that attended the closed door meeting yesterday, the delegation which is yet to give out their full observations on their findings, said that the inmates have been accorded full rights as required by the United Nations. Harelimana added: “All these were lies and the delegation have found out that we have observed the Memorandum of Understanding.” The convicts had complained that they have been denied their West African food and cannot cope with East African meals, cannot access medication and want to be relocated to Europe which, according to sources, is their intentions to help their wives seek asylum in the guise of being close to their husbands. The minister said the allegations were baseless noting that the court brought in a chef skilled in West African meals to train prison chefs how to prepare the special meals for the inmates. He said that the delegation also witnessed how the prison staff conducted their trainings on prison management to meet international standards as required by the UN. Ends