Sankoh’s wife issues writ

The wife of detained rebel leader Foday Sankoh has begun legal proceedings in the High Court in London to find out where her husband is being held, news organisations reported on Thursday. Fatou Sankoh’s lawyers have issued a writ of habeas corpus (which places the burden of proof on the detaining authority) on the grounds that the British government has some responsibility for his whereabouts. At the time of his arrest in May British soldiers were in Freetown to secure the airport so as to evacuate UK nationals and to support the Sierra Leonean government which feared further attacks by Sankoh’s Revolutionary United Front (RUF). Sankoh, whose followers committed human rights violations during and after the civil war such as rape, murder, mutilations and the forced recruitment of adults and children, has been detained in an undisclosed location by the authorities in Sierra Leone for over two months. He was arrested a week after his bodyguards fired on a peaceful demonstration in front of his house in Freetown.