JFK Sent to Prison for Contempt After Refusing Supreme Court Order
Sahid Bangura APC Lead Counsel Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara, popularly known as JFK, has been sent to prison after being charged with contempt of court during the ongoing constitutional amendment hearing at the Supreme Court of Sierra Leone.
The development occurred on Thursday, October 8, 2026, during the second day of the hearing, after Chief Justice Komba Kamanda directed Kamara to remove his wig and enter the dock following a dispute over an apology the Court had required from him.
The Court had found Kamara’s earlier response to its request for an apology inadequate and directed him to formally apologize and expressly withdraw a statement he had made during the previous day’s proceedings.
Kamara maintained that he had already apologized and retracted the statement. However, the Court ruled that his response did not amount to the required apology and specifically ordered him to withdraw the statement.
Kamara declined to comply with the order, prompting the Court to charge him with contempt of court and order his detention in prison.
The development follows a tense exchange between Kamara and the Supreme Court during the first day of the constitutional hearing on Wednesday, October 7.
During Wednesday’s proceedings, Kamara challenged the Attorney-General’s Office over what he described as its failure to file a Statement of Case. He argued that the Attorney-General’s Notice of Objections had been improperly filed without the required response to the applicants’ issues.
The challenge triggered a heated exchange between Kamara and the Court, with Chief Justice Kamanda cautioning counsel that the Supreme Court was not a political platform but an institution founded on independence and integrity.
The Chief Justice urged lawyers appearing before the Court to maintain decorum and respect the authority of the judicial process.
Kamara, however, maintained that the process was unfair and insisted that all parties must be given an equal opportunity to be heard. The exchange subsequently led to a brief stand-down of proceedings.
His detention on Thursday marks a dramatic escalation of the tensions that emerged during the constitutional amendment hearing and places the prominent lawyer at the centre of an unprecedented courtroom confrontation.