Sierra Leone authorities have detained a Liberian activist who is transiting through the country en route to the United States, APA learnt on Wednesday.
Henry P. Costa was prevented from boarding a plane headed for Paris, from where he was to connect to the US, sources said. They added that he was called in for questioning by immigration officials and later held at a police station at the airport town of Lungi.
Costa is the head of the Council of Patriots (COP), a pressure group that has led protests against the rule of President George Weah. Reports indicate that he had been under investigation for the authenticity of the traveling document he used to enter Liberia in December last year.
The Liberian police claimed he wasn’t cooperating with the investigation when he decided to leave the country via Freetown.
Reports about his arrest in Sierra Leone also indicate that he was being interrogated about the document he used to enter into the country through land border.
There are concerns that the Julius Maada Bio administration intends to extradite the activist back to Liberia on the orders of his Liberian counterpart.
Some Sierra Leoneans have taken to social media urging the government to release him.
But the activist himself was quoted allaying fears of his situation via a social media post, noting he was been treated badly.
KC/abj/APA