"I'm in jail!" - Managing Editor of Plain Truth

http://www.analystliberia.com/am_in_jail_dec15_09.html  

“I am presently behind bars!” These were the fear-laden words of Mr. Cyrenius Cephus, the Managing Editor of the Plain Truth newspaper who spoke with this paper yesterday from a withholding cell at the Headquarters of the National Security Agency (NSA) in Monrovia. Mr. Cephus, also a legal practitioner, described as “deplorable” his condition at the time of speaking with this paper via cell phone yesterday. The Analyst would not verify Mr. Cephus’ claims that he was being held stark naked against his will, having been stripped of his clothes and shoes.

“I am presently in bare feet behind bars in a well-secured cell. My condition is deplorable; anybody disputing that can come and see me,” the Plain Truth boss alleged during a few minutes' mobile phone discussion with this paper. He said he was ordered detained by the power that be when he could not respond to demands by those investigating him. He did not identify the “power that be”, but it seems clear to observers that he may have been referring to the security agencies that have been investigating him in relations to the allegation published in his newspaper against the government of Liberia. “They first asked me to explain Liberia-Guinea relations; later they asked that I should discuss Liberia-Guinean citizens’ historical interactions. I told them I was not a student of history to historicize Liberia-Guinea relationship. They also asked me to provide the source of my story, and I told them to go to Guinea,” he said.

He claimed that it was when he could not provide the information sought by the security investigators that the President of Liberia ordered “her son, Fuma Sirleaf, who is the head of this agency to detain me”. The Liberian government, for the past days, has been investigating Mr. Cephus in connection with a story his Plain Truth newspaper published alleging that the Liberian government was aiding the military junta in Guinea arms and ammunitions. Liberia’s Justice Minister, Madam Christiana Tar, over the weekend confirmed to newsmen that the National Security Agency (NSA) had invited the Plain Truth publisher to help provide government with more information on the smuggling of arms to neighboring Guinea as alleged by his paper.

He was on two occasions summoned and released before he was ordered to report to the NSA yesterday. But in the wake of the detention of Mr. Cephus at the NSA, observers are wondering as to whether the government has found enough reasons to prosecute him, and beyond that to detain him at the NSA. The government said the story, which it strongly denied as having any iota of truth, was intended to pit it against the international community, especially ECOWAS.

The West African grouping has been mediating in the Guinean situation. Over the weekend, the ministries of Justice and National Security, the National Security Agency (NSA), and Bureau of Immigration and Naturalization (BIN) held a joint press conference to denounce and deny the Plain Truth story. The four agencies said by suggesting that the Liberian government, which cannot afford to defend its citizens due to a UNSC arm embargo, was supplying arms and ammunition to a foreign government, the Plain Truth’s story went beyond human imagination. “The story is not only untrue, it is also intended to create problems for both Liberians residing in Guinea and the Liberian Government,” said the agencies’ spokesperson Justice Minister Christiana Tar.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Information, Cultural and Tourism, prior to Cephus’ revelation that he was behind bars in deplorable condition, said the ongoing investigation of the Plain Truth publisher was in no way intended to impede press freedom in the country. Rather, it said, the investigation was intended to ascertain facts from him concerning what it termed “erroneous and damaging publication that has the propensity to create insecurity in the sub-region.” In a statement issued under the signature of Acting Minister Elizabeth Hoff, the ministry said the story was false, baseless and unfounded and not only intended to downplay the numerous efforts by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf along with other regional leaders toward restoring sanity to Guinea.

”The government of Liberia wishes to make it emphatically clear that it has no desire to see any of its neighboring countries in a state of turmoil and would not allow anyone living within the territorial confines of Liberia to carry out any subversive activities against the governments of neighboring states as alleged by the Plain Truth newspaper,” the MICAT statement said. While the MICAT statement is calling on the Plain Truth Newspaper to desist from publishing what it called “unsubstantial stories, which suggests that the government has waived the matter, the Plain Truth boss ironically is behind bars experiencing life in a different world of isolation.

What is also befuddling, according to observers, is the coincidence of the release of the Plain story and earlier claims by the head of the junta, Capt. Moussa Dadis Camara, that the Liberian government was forming alliance with juntas to remove him from power, an allegation which was strongly denied by the Liberian government. At the same time, the Proprietor of the SEAMARCO Printing Press that printed The Plain Truth, Michael Mankine has been detained by the Liberian government. One of the local dailies, In Profile newspaper in its Monday, December 14, 2009 edition with a banner story “Media Under Attack” reported that the SEAMARCO boss who is also the Publisher of the Champion Sports and Sports Day newspapers was detained by the National Security Agency.

According to the paper, what prompted his (Mankine’s) reported arrest has not been established, but it quoted information it gathered as saying that he was detained by the NSA yesterday because he had printed The Plain Truth newspaper. The paper said efforts to contact authorities at the NSA failed as NSA Director Fumba Sirleaf’s phone continuously gave busy tune. In the same vein, the paper reported that the President of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), Peter Quaqua, told it via mobile phone that he condemned the act of affront, indicating that the Union will issue a statement on the issue after making the necessary follow-ups with authorities of the security agency involved.

Disclaimer: Opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s) and not do necessarily reflect the views of the AfricaFiles' editors and network members. They are included in our material as a reflection of a diversity of views and a variety of issues. Material written specifically for AfricaFiles may be edited for length, clarity or inaccuracies.

     top of page