Sierra Leonean President Julius Maada Bio has pardoned a famous and controversial musician, critic of his power, who was serving a nine-year sentence for theft, AFP learned Monday from an official source. Rapper Alhaji Amadu Bah, known under the pseudonym LAJ, is one of 352 detainees, including nine women, pardoned by President Bio during the New Year and released on Monday, Information Minister Chernor Bah told AFP .
He “demonstrated good civic behavior when he returned to prison after being forced out during the November 26 coup attempt,” said Minister Bah, no relation to the now ex-convict.
The popular musician has been arrested several times in recent years. He had been detained for two years, charged with theft in March after an attack with others at a gas station and then sentenced to nine years which he served in Freetown Central Prison.
Some 2,000 prisoners escaped from this prison, which was stormed, during the events of November 26 when armed clashes took place in Freetown. The president presented these events as an attempt to destabilize the state. During this day, the musician was filmed making out. He was filmed again as he returned to prison on his own with a message to his fans: “Respect peace and the law.”
That same day, men attacked a military armory, two barracks, two prisons and two police stations. These unrest left 21 dead according to the government. Eighty people were arrested in connection with these events, mainly soldiers, according to the authorities.
The musician LAJ owes his reputation to his critical songs against the government of President Bio, re-elected in June for a second term. While he was in prison, he, after authorization from the administration, produced with other prisoners a song against the consumption of kush, a drug which is wreaking havoc among the idle youth of Sierra Leone.
Dozens of his fans attended his release from prison on Monday, wearing T-shirts that read: “Welcome home LAJ.”
