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Two reporters from the online outlet Born to Blog were arrested and briefly detained after attempting to verify allegations of domestic abuse involving a military guard assigned to the First Lady, Fatima Bio, and his wife at Murray Town Barracks in Freetown.
According to Born to Blog, the reporters were on assignment to check facts and had not published any story when they were taken into custody. “The reporters did not publish any report, they were only attempting to verify facts in line with ethical journalism,” the outlet said in a public statement. Born to Blog has called on authorities to release the reporters and described the detentions as an infringement on the reporters’ duty to gather and verify information.
The episode drew swift criticism from media-watchers and press freedom advocates who warned that detentions of journalists chill investigative work and can amount to intimidation. “Press freedom must be allowed to work without intimidation, harassment or unlawful detention,” Born to Blog said.
The incident comes as Sierra Leone’s standing in the international press-freedom debate remains fragile. Reporters Without Borders’ 2025 World Press Freedom Index places Sierra Leone 56th out of 180 countries, an improvement on the previous year but still inside a global environment RSF describes as increasingly dangerous for journalists.
RSF has also flagged recent developments in Sierra Leone, including a new anti-terrorism bill seen as potential legal grounds that could be used to limit reporting if applied broadly. Rights groups say laws with vague wording can be used to justify detention or prosecution of journalists doing routine reporting.
Rights groups argue that journalists’ ability to verify facts on sensitive topics, including alleged wrongdoing by security personnel is a basic component of accountable governance. Even isolated detentions send a strong message to reporters and editors about the possible personal and legal risks of probing powerful actors. Press freedom experts argue that improvement in international rankings means little if journalists still face harassment or legal uncertainty at home.
Sierra Leone’s rise in the RSF index shows progress on paper, but incidents like the detention of the Born to Blog reporters expose how quickly that progress can be undermined. For press freedom to be meaningful, authorities must protect journalists’ right to investigate and verify without fear of arrest and legal reforms flagged by RSF must not become tools for silencing scrutiny. Until those protections are consistently enforced, journalists and the public will continue to pay the price for a press that can be intimidated out of doing its job.
