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A journalist in Sierra Leone said in an interview Tuesday in the capital Freetown that his life is in danger, after he alleges that threatening and intimidating anonymous telephone calls were made to his cellphone, regarding a series of articles his newspaper is working on.
The articles relate to alleged attempted ritualistic murderous acts – that may have involved several virgin schoolgirls in the country.
Journalist Sallieu Tejan Jalloh, who publishes Times Newspaper in Sierra Leone, told TV-News-24 that he fears for his safety after he recently started receiving threatening remarks – as his media outlet embark on reporting, and revealing those behind the alleged attempted ritual murder(s).
Jalloh said his team at the newspaper have also been subjected to the threats.
“Since we started exposing this issue, I have been getting anonymous calls with death threats, and I strongly believe that exposing the issue about the six virgins is part of our work as journalists,” Jalloh said.
Jalloh says he’s yet to file a complaint with law enforcement regarding the threats.
“No official complaint for now. But I have alerted some local and international bodies including SLAJ,” the journalist said.
However, Sierra Leone Association of Journalists (SLAJ) president, Ahmed Sahid Nasralla, said Jalloh has not officially reported this current matter to him – though he says his secretary general told him about it.
Only that, Nasralla tells TV-News24 on WhatsApp: “The last time we met he actually told me about that ritual scoop, and said he was going to publish [it].”
According to TV-News24, the investigative journalist said he’s speaking out about the threat to his life so the public would be aware of his ordeal – and challenges – as he carries on with his journalistic responsibilities in Sierra Leone.
Jalloh said though he’s yet to make a formal complaint, he plans to notify the police and diplomatic community about the reported threat to his life.
He’d earlier wrote on Facebook before Tuesday’s interview: “My life is under threat, and I want the public to know that the alleged suspects have been planning to either kidnap me or get me eliminated.
“Even though I am not afraid of death, but I strongly believe I should bring this to the attention of the public.”
This latest uncertainty to Jalloh’s safety wasn’t the first time that he’s been caught in the crosshairs of those in society that felt threatened by his exposé reportage.
In 2019, men later identified as state security officers, late in the evening hours deceitfully lured him away from his offices in central Freetown – to a waiting vehicle parked nearby – and whisked him away.
Jalloh later found himself at the Criminal Investigation Department – where he was detained.
That detention at CID was the product of an investigative reportage concerning an alleged bribery of $1.5M involving former Chief Minister Prof. David John Francis – now Sierra Leone’s Foreign Affairs Minister.
In the current incident though, which triggers the reported anonymous telephone calls and subsequent threats, Jalloh posted on his Facebook account on Oct. 1, the following headline: ATTEMPTED RITUAL MURDER?
That headline wasn’t all capital letters as shown here.
And the accompanying article reported how police had declined to respond to media inquiries about the involvement of top government officials in a ritual murder.
“Police [o]fficers attached at the New England Police Station have refused to talk to The Times SL on a sensitive matter involving high profile government officials – names withheld for now – on an allegation of ritual murder at a [p]rivate [s]chool in Freetown,” he wrote in part.
Jalloh posted that they’ve been investigating the case of two virgin schoolgirls, taken to an unfinished building in concert with two teachers at the girls’ school, “in order to perform certain rituals by a [t]alisman commonly known as ‘Alpha Man’ in our local parlance.”
