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Sierra Leone’s post-election environment has been nothing short of the dramatic, from one plot to another; claims and counterclaims. On Tuesday evening, this drama continued after a widely circulated letter went viral on social media stating that it was from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The document has the letterhead and structured format of a NOTE VERBALE from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands.
The document has been widely shared on WhatsApp and also on Facebook. It has also surfaced on Twitter.
What does DUBAWA know for sure?
It is not clear where the letter originated from. However, the top right corner of the letter claims it is coming from the Prosecutor’s Office at the ICC.
In the letter, the ICC requests that its lead prosecutor, Karim AA Khan KC, meet with President Bio on the margins of the UN General Assembly scheduled for next month.
This supposed letter comes at a time when the country is still trying to move on, following the controversial general elections that was held in June, which saw President Bio winning a second term.
Following Bio’s win, there have been a series of protest marches in Europe and America in support and against him. One of those marches happened in the Netherlands, where a group of Sierra Leoneans led a protest and a petition to the ICC in Hague.
A pro-opposition publication, Cocorioko, claimed that the petition was accepted by staff at ICC. DUBAWA has not seen any evidence to back this, given that there has been a letter of acknowledgement from the ICC in previous petitions that have been accepted.
There have been claims the supposed meeting could either be a routine meeting between the Prosecutor at ICC and President Bio, or it could be a follow-up on at least two petitions lodged against him at the Hague.
Right up to Tuesday evening, no one knew for sure whether this invitation was genuine or fake.
Government’s response
To verify this, DUBAWA directly contacted the government. Deputy Minister of Information and Civic Education, Yusuf Kekehtoma Sandi told DUBAWA that the document is false and part of an emerging disinformation.
“The ICC letter is not only fake but also part of a pattern to spread disinformation. This is a classic example of how certain individuals abuse the new media space to promote disinformation,” Sandi said.
The Director of Communication at the President’s Office, Micheal Berewa, has also labeled the letter as fake on his Facebook page.
DUBAWA’s verification efforts
This researcher has also sent an email to the address (OTPNewsDesk@icc-cpi.int) listed on the ICC website for media enquiries. But ICC is yet to respond.
The Spokesperson of the ICC using an automatic email response system referred DUBAWA’s enquiry to the Public Affairs section of the court. DUBAWA has also sent another email on the source of the viral letter, which has not received a response as of the time of writing this article.
Apart from these steps, DUBAWA also used other verification methodologies; like comparing this document to other similar documents from the ICC in the past.
This is not the first time Sierra Leoneans have filed a petition about the government at the ICC. Two of the letters that have been seen by DUBAWA from previous petitions show some different features compared to the one circulating now.
In 2016, activist Abdul Fatorma filed a petition with the court regarding human rights violations in Sierra Leone.
Credit: Sierra Leone Telegraph
Fatorma has confirmed to DUBAWA that this 2016 letter is authentic. So using it as a standard to compare the current letter circulating, DUBAWA observed that the 2023 document did not have the signature of the Prosecutor, or any signature for that matter even though it claimed to have come from his office.
Previous public communications like this from the ICC have always had a signature.
Another observation is that the 2023 letter does not have any return address, such as Postal box number and telephone number for further contact. The only thing the 2023 letter had was an email address for further enquiries.
DUBAWA has since sent an email to at least three ICC linked email addresses to independently verify the veracity of the letter, but there has been no response yet.
Why does ICC want to meet with President Bio?
In a latest development, the Minister of Information and Civic Education, Chernor Bah updated the public via a tweet confirming the details as stated in the letter.
Despite the confirmation on Wednesday evening, he insisted on Thursday morning, in an interview on the Epic Morning Show (watch 1:28:28 to 1:33:57) that the viral document is fake and that they have received a confidential memo on Wednesday, 23 August about the said meeting.
Speaking about the purpose of the meeting, Bah said ICC wants to get Sierra Leone’s support on key justice issues, given that the country is coming in as a new member to the Security Council.
“ICC requires the support of the Security Council to advance their agenda. So when new members are coming to the Council the ICC requests to engage them and understand their positions,” Bah said during the interview.
The Minister’s statement in some ways confirms the content of the leaked document, even though it is not enough to validate the document’s authenticity entirely.
During the interview on Epic Radio on Thursday, Bah was asked if the government will publish the memo they have received. He said they will explore the options of doing so, while considering the sensitivity surrounding diplomatic communication.
“Even if we publish everything, if fake news wants to go out, it will still go. We will try to put as much information out there as possible. As I have said, it is a confidential document “
By Thursday afternoon, the official memo was released on official government channels, putting a halt to what has been a very divisive debate.
