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Prominent Lawyer and Human Rights Activist, Basita Michael has explained her experience at the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) following the arrest and detention of opposition politicians, Dr. Femi Claudius-Cole and Dr. Dennis Bright.
She made this revelation on a social media post.
“This morning, together with colleagues from @ILRAJ, we visited Dr. Femi Claudius-Cole and Dr. Dennis Bright at the CID,” she stated.
“Initially, we were told we needed the approval of the Operations Officer. However, another officer intervened and allowed us access together with members of the Press”.
The people who were part of the visit includes, the Mayor of Freetown, lawyer Wara Serry-Kamal, lawyer Alpha Amadu Bah (MP) and lawyer Hassan Kamara.
After speaking to Dr. Denis Bright, Basita Michel said that she could not understand why she was arrested.
“All he did was to accompany Dr. Femi Claudius Cole to the CID”.
She said added that Dr. Denis Bright seemed unwell and, adding that he told them he needs to make preparations for the funeral arrangements of Mrs. Philomena Yumkella.
She disclosed that they were at the CID when they were informed that a warrant had been issued to search the premises of the Unity Party on allegations that there were arms and ammunition in the said office.
Together with her colleagues, including Wara and Alpha, they accompanied Dr. Claudius-Cole and the police team comprising over a dozen police officers to the Unity Party office.
They waited there until the search was conducted in the presence of lawyers. The search she said took over an hour. At the end, they were informed no arms or ammunition were found on the premises.
“After the search at the party office, Dr. Claudius Cole was taken to the CID were they were told about another search warrant for her house at Syke Street, which she said they also accompanied the police,” Michel said.
“On our arrival, we met over a dozen armed Police Officers outside her house, including OSDs. They searched the house, garage, store, etc and found nothing”.
“Dr. Claudius-Cole was taken back to the CID and is still in custody. Our pleas for her and Dr. Dennis Bright to be granted bail fell on deaf ears. Dr. Bright has still not been informed of the reasons for his detention,” the lawyer concluded.
