Again, the Liberia Human Rights Community has been visited upon by the forces of evil leading to the arrest and subsequent torture of a Human Rights Lawyer Cllr. Tiawan Gongloe. The reason and cause of the arrest of Mr. Gongloe is believed to stem from a speech he delivered in Conakry, Guinea during a recent Civil Society conference when he condemned violence as a means to state power. The Analyst newspaper that printed the speech of Cllr. Gongloe has been closed down, with one of the employees in police custody and the rest of his colleagues in hiding. The tragic irony of Mr. Gongloe is that he was tortured all night that he was unable to stand on his feet, with the lost of hearing and one eye severely effected.

The Government of Liberia under the leadership of President Charles Taylor has used, and continue to use thugs, a state trained terrorists to hunt down and brutalized human rights defenders to silence the voice of good conscience from their hearts. These cruel treatments and barbaric acts against human rights defenders without end, and without any link for guidance for democracy and for the respect of human dignity should be protested loudly. We must, in no uncertain terms, condemn such bestial treatment of our colleagues. Please join the campaign to call on the Government of Liberia to stop terrorizing and intimidating human rights defenders, as a means to cow them to submission.

Appeal:

His Excellency Charles Taylor
President of the Republic of Liberia
Office of the President, Executive Mansion
P.O. Box 9001, Capitol Hill
Monrovia, Liberia
Fax: +231-228 026/ 226 360
Tel: +231-226 789

Mr. Eddington Varmah
Minister of Justice
Ministry of Justice
Ashmun Street, P.O. Box 9006
Monrovia, Liberia
Telegram: justice minister, Monrovia, Liberia
Fax: +231-227 872

Mr. Monie R. Captan
Minster of Foreign Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
P.O. Box 9002
Monrovia, Liberia
Telegram: Minister of Foreign Affairs, Monrovia, Liberia
Fax: +231-226 076

Mr. Paul Mulbah
Director of Police
National Police Headquarters
Monrovia, Liberia

And to diplomatic representatives of Liberia accredited to your country.