By S. Siapha Mulbah (Cub Reporter)
The Monrovia City Court has sent Jethro Harris to the Central Prison for allegedly posting ritualistic pictures on social media.
Harris, an executive member of the National Youth Congress of the Alternative National Congress (ANC), was arrested on Friday October 1, in connection to his September 27, social media post.
The post made by Harris read, “I am in tears tonight… It’s so painful how the young people of Liberia are dying mysteriously…This is the late Rolisa N. Gbeintor, an alumna of the Len Miller High School…She was murdered and parts of her body were extracted.”
“She had dreams… She had a great future ahead of her… But there she lies dead without understanding how…May her gentle soul rest in peace and the souls of all other faithfully departed rest in perpetual peace,” his Facebook post added.
According to the police, the posts made by the defendant to his social media followers had no iota of truth and were intended to put some of the citizens in the borders against the National Security apparatus.
The police charged Harris for the crimes of false public alarm which is in violation of Chapter 17 Section 17.4 of the Revised Penal Law of Liberia.
The police added that the right provided by the 1986 Constitution called for freedom of expression or speech which comes with the responsibility faced by its beneficiary when abused.
The police charge sheet maintained that during the police investigation, it was established that the photo of the late Rolisa attached to the defendant’s post was fake because Rolisa had been sick for a protracted period and died subsequently.
Police furthered that the defendant posts were to buttress the widely spread falsehood of ritualistic killings in the country that have brought fear to so many people in Liberia
However, the political leader of the ANC, one of the four constituent parties in the Collaborating Political Parties (CPP), Alexander Cummings has termed the arrest of Harris as political.
The party leader said to see what he called a container of police in Nimba County over the weekend in the name of arresting only Jethro Harris for the crime of misdemeanor is a serious violation of the right to freedom of speech provided by the Constitution.
Cummings accused the justice system of Liberia of being connected and strongly linked to politics by the government while judges are not given the freedom to interpret the law; noting that this practice in the Judiciary makes people think that could be the reason for investors to avoid coming to Liberia for the purpose of business and other ventures.
Cummings strong condemnation of the justice system comes after his legal team appeared on the grounds of the Temple of Justice in Monrovia yesterday to have his executive released on bail because the crime against him is bailable under the law, but Judge Jonah Jallah of the Monrovia City Court still committed him to the South Beach Prison.