|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Claim: News circulating on WhatsApp claimed that former ADP Presidential candidate Mohamed Kamarinba Mansaray who raped a minor has died in prison.
Verdict: False. The Sierra Leone Correctional Center has said Kamarainba is not dead. The Human Rights Commission has also debunked the news as fake.
Full Text
Former Presidential candidate for the Alliance Democratic Party, Mohamed Kamarainba Mansaray has been at the centre of public speculation for the last three years. The politician was arrested in July 2020 for raping a minor.
Kamarainba, as he is popularly known, was sentenced to 32 years in jail last year, having been found guilty on all four charges. He was charged and sentenced to jail alongside his co-conspirator, Marion Arouni.
Throughout his trial, Kamarainba has been sick, and at some point, he had to be transferred from prison to the 34 Military Hospital.
The message about his death was first posted on WhatsApp. The message claimed to have been authored by the Human Rights Commission Sierra Leone, something the institution has now denied.
Verification
To verify this, DUBAWA contacted the Human Rights Commission on whether they authored the brief statement claiming that the politician had died in jail. The commission denied and later released a statement following a number of media enquiries.
In the statement, the human rights body stated:
“The Commission has not received any such information from the relevant authorities regarding Mr Mansaray, who is currently serving his jail term at the Freetown Male Correctional Center.”
DUBAWA also contacted the Sierra Leone Correctional Service, where Kamarainba is. A spokesperson for the service, Cecile-cole Showers, said the politician is not dead as rumours claim.
When asked if Kamarainba is alive, Mr Showers said: “Yes, he is alive.” He also added that Kamarainba is not well.
“He is not keeping well at the moment; as we speak, he has already been admitted to a hospital,” Showers said.
Shortly after the interview, The Correctional Service also tweeted, denying the claim.
Conclusion
Kamarainba is not dead, as widely rumoured. The Sierra Leone Correctional Service has debunked the claim.
