Calls for release of Sierra Leonean singer jailed in ‘crackdown on free speech’

Zainab Sheriff unjustly sentenced to four years in prison for incitement and threatening language, say activists

Lawyers, politicians and activists have called for the release of one of Sierra Leone’s best-known celebrities, who they said was unjustly imprisoned as part of a government crackdown on free speech and political dissent.

Zainab Sheriff, a singer and reality-TV show contestant who became a political opposition figure, was sentenced in April to four years and two months’ imprisonment for incitement and using threatening language.