Amnesty calls for release of rights activist

Amnesty International appealed on Tuesday to the Liberian government to release a leading human rights activist, Aloysius Toe, who was arrested on Monday and charged with treason. "Toe has done nothing but work legitimately for the defense of fundamental human rights in Liberia," Amnesty International said. "There is no basis to the charge against him and he must be immediately and unconditionally released." Toe is a member of the National Human Rights Center, Secretary General of the Liberia Coalition of Human Rights Defenders and Executive Director of the Movement for the Defense of Human Rights (MODHAR). Amnesty said he was the latest "in a long line of human rights defenders to be imprisoned as the Liberian government persists in attempting to silence its critics". "He was arrested after he emerged from almost a week in hiding. In the early hours of 29 October, his home was raided by police and his wife, Vivian, was arrested. She was released later the same day. The authorities announced that Toe was wanted in connection with documents found in his home which, they alleged, linked him to the armed opposition Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD)," Amnesty said. Arrested the same day, Amnesty said, was Dempster Brown, a lawyer and Chair of the Liberia Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, Blamoh Sieh, a leading member of the National Human Rights Center, and Peter Nicholson, a research and security officer at the National Human Rights Center. All were released without charge by 1 November. "These latest arrests, culminating in the charge of treason against Toe follow a campaign launched on 25 October by the Coalition of Human Rights Defenders, to secure the release of two of their colleagues, Hassan Bility and Sheikh Sackor, who have been held incommunicado without charge or trial for months," Amnesty said. It added: "The Liberian authorities must end their persistent and unlawful attacks on the human rights community, which show complete disregard for both national and international human rights provisions." According to Amnesty, human rights defenders in Liberia have repeatedly been victims of arbitrary arrest and detention. These include journalist Hassan Bility who was arrested on 24 June and Sheikh Sackor, executive director of Humanist Watch who was arrested on 25 July. "The Minister of National Defense announced that a military tribunal had concluded that they were prisoners of war. Such a definition has no basis under international law, notably the Geneva Conventions of 1949 because the current armed conflict is internal. The government announced on 28 October that they were to be released under certain conditions. However, they remain in incommunicado detention," Amnesty said.