Arson Attack on a Sierra Leone Investigative Journalist

After being woken by a strong smell of petrol on the night of 29 April, Gibril Gottor and his family discovered a plastic bag dripping petrol in a roof ventilation pipe, and found that their apartment’s back door had also been doused in petrol.

A reporter for the privately-owned TV channel Africa Young Voices (AYV), Gottor has left his home and has stayed away from his family ever since that night for fear of putting them in danger.

Gottor told RSF he has been investigating several sensitive stories including looting by a criminal group in a nearby village in December 2021, theft of land in which the same group is suspected, the extortion of fishermen by naval personnel, the rape of a minor by a police officer, and illegal timber trafficking to neighbouring Guinea. He also said he had received several threats and court summonses in the course of his reporting.

Gottor said that, when he reported the attempted arson attack to the police, they refused to provide him with night-time protection but undertook to patrol the area where his apartment is located.