Two Gay Rights Advocates Missing

Two reporters of a local media outlet in Sierra Leone (Mikaliu Jalloh and Cherinor Abdul) are presently on the run after they escaped an attack by some members of the public who are totally opposed to Gay rights in Sierra Leone.

The two Journalists who were very much celebrated for their outspokenness in condemning attacks and discrimination against Gays in Sierra Leone have gone missing for months now and their whereabouts remains unknown.

Mikaliu and his colleague Cherinor served as the mouth piece for the isolated Gay community in Sierra Leone and used their positions as media practitioners to educate people about the need to accept those involved in the practice as it has to do with their human right and freedom. There actions received widespread condemnation and were said to have been issued with series of death threats by some angry members of the public who are in contention with their actions. Sierra Leoneans are highly religious and majority find it very difficult discuss issues related to Gay and this has created fear among the Gay community who remain in hiding. As the Gay community continue to suffer in silence the two young Journalists sacrificed their lives to promote their interest in a society that is much intolerable and aggressive.

Mikaliu and  Cherinor did not only limit their activism to Gay Rights but  went further on a number of occasions to publicly condemn the practice of Female Genital Mutilation saying that the practice   is an insult to human dignity. An outright reaction to this publication was a physical   attack on them by   Sowes (heads of the Bondo society) and other women who strongly believe in the practice. A  Group of women who were reportedly in a furious mood stormed the homes of the two Journalists at night but they managed to escape with their lives.  Eye witnesses at the scene of the attack on the homes of the two Journalists disclosed to this medium that the women demanded a public apology from the two Journalists or they will pay a bitter prize for their actions.  It is also reported that the society women have asked the families of the two Journalists to disclose their whereabouts but the families have refused to do so.

Sources close to the families Minkaliu Jalloh and Cherinor Abdul have revealed that members of the families are worried about the safety of their children as they find themselves in a terrible situation where those hunting their lives are unknown particularly with the current atmosphere of insecurity in the country where the safety of citizens is not guaranteed.

Story By Mariama B. Bah