Fears are mounting over the mental and physical health of a social media influencer who has been in prison in Sierra Leone for more than a month after she was arrested on live television.
Hawa Hunt, a dual Canadian and Sierra Leonean citizen, was arrested on 22 December while starring in House of Stars, a reality TV show, for comments she made on social media about the president of Sierra Leone and the first lady in May 2023.
In a 25-minute video, Hunt, a 42-year-old fitness and wellbeing influencer who has more than 100,000 followers across Facebook, TikTok and Instagram, criticised Julius and Fatima Maada Bio.
She faces two counts of “transmitting insulting messages via a computer system” in accordance with the Cybersecurity and Crime Act 2021. Prosecutors claim the video incited public disorder and damaged the reputation of the president and his wife.
Multiple requests for bail for Hunt, a single mother of three children, have been refused. On 28 December, she appeared in a video apologising to the president and first lady and said she was being treated well and that the police had handled everything professionally.
However, her daughter and human rights activists believe this was a forced confession and that she may be facing physical abuse while being held in Pademba Road prison in Freetown, Sierra Leone’s capital.
Alicia Hunt, 20, who lives in Calgary in Canada, said she had been allowed to speak to her mother only while prison guards were present.
Hunt told her there were bedbug infestations and a mosquito problem and that she was given limited food – a piece of buttered bread in the morning and half a cup of rice with a small portion of fish in the evening. Alicia said: “My mother said all the food there makes everyone sick. People would rather starve than eat it.”
She added: “I whispered to her one time on the call, ‘Are you being abused in any way?’ And she said, ‘Oh yeah, we are regularly hit in here, but that’s just Africa, that’s how they do things.’ There should be no reason why they are laying hands on my mother or anyone.”
Alicia believes her mother’s arrest is politically motivated. She said her mother and Fatima Maada Bio went to school together and had engaged online before. “I do think it was planned, this arrest,” she said. “Once they heard she was going to be on House of Stars, I think they saw it as an opportunity to [arrest her] live on a nationally known show to make an example of her and incite fear in people speaking out about the government.”
Amnesty International has called for the release of Hunt and for guarantees to a fair trial. It has raised concerns about the law used to prosecute her.
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Michèle Eken, a senior researcher at Amnesty International’s west and central Africa office, said: “Amnesty International has already expressed its concern about the law used to prosecute Hawa Hunt … Several cases of possible violations of the right to freedom of expression under the Cybersecurity and Crime Act have previously been reported.”
Alimatu Dimonekene, an advocate for women and girls’ rights, said the government’s use of the law to detain people for speaking out was “worrying in terms of its impact” and was “setting a wrong precedent”.
“People are holding back what they want to say in the media and I think that’s a terrible place to be in because we have to hold governments and individuals accountable when it comes to things like extreme violence and abuse,” she said.
Mohamed Bobson Senu, deputy head of media for Sierra Leone police, said he could not comment on any ongoing case. “That matter is in court,” he said.
