March 21, 2023 [Liberia] Day 34: Torture in Klay
Witness X8’s lower court recording is viewed
The court began the session by viewing witness X8’s testimony from the lower court on a video recording, as the court was unable to hear him in person. Trial monitoring from the witness’s hearing before the lower court can be found here.
Witness Background 1 is heard
The prosecution questions Background 1
The prosecution began by asking about Background 1’s work. The witness testified that he works for the GJRP, an organization he founded in 2012. The GJRP is an organization that documents war-related crimes. It seeks to bring justice to the victims of Liberia’s two wars in foreign jurisdictions. The witness testified that during the second Liberian civil war, he worked as the editor for the Analyst Paper newspaper and was a press reporter for the European Union in Liberia. He covered human rights issues, such as Liberia’s involvement in the war in Sierra Leone by its sending soldiers for the RUF. Charles Taylor was Liberia’s president at the time. He testified that Taylor did not like his coverage of these issues because he was jailed seven times by the police on Taylor’s orders. The last time he was jailed was on Monday 24 June, 2002.
The witness then stated: “The most traumatic experience of my life was along with some other people at an underground cell in Klay, Bomi County, and the subsequent tortures that followed”. He was held in a prison at the Klay checkpoint. The checkpoint had a gate, with a building on the left and an administrative building where immigration authorities and the police used to work, on the right. Opposite to the administrative building was a weighing station, where unprocessed rubber was weighed. To the northern part of the complex was an underground building which was not originally meant as a prison, but in which he and other people were held. It was July, the rainy season and there was water up to their knees. Every day or every other day the prisoners were brought out, their heads were covered, and they were taken inside a building to be interrogated: “And there I experienced the worst nightmare in my life. I got tortured, and beaten, tied to my hands behind my back and, sorry we got females here, but electrocuted in my private parts”. The woman who was electrocuting him was acting on orders.
Background 1 specified that he was arrested and taken to Klay on Liberia’s Independence Day. He could tell the date as he heard soldiers in the area and people along the road to Klay talking about it. He was transferred from Zone Six, to Brewersville, to Klay, on the same day and people along the road were talking about Independence Day.
The witness testified that he was interrogated multiple times in Klay, he could not say how many times in total. The first interrogation took place on the same day he arrived in Klay, on 26 July 2002. He arrived right as the sun was setting and was interrogated for the first time late at night. That night, he was interrogated by Mr Gibril Massaquoi. Mr Massaquoi began by introducing himself as Angel Gabriel, Gibril Massaquoi. He asked him if he knew what Angel Gabriel means. Background 1 responded yes, that it was the name of an angel of God. Then Massaquoi told him that he was going to ask questions and if he did not tell the truth, he would kill him.
According to Background 1, Massaquoi wanted answers to the same questions that President Taylor had asked him. President Taylor wanted Background 1 to admit that he, President Ellen Sirleaf, Robert Perry, Alhaji Kroma and Abraham Mitchell had conspired to overthrow Taylor and to kill him. The witness then narrated the torture that he suffered. He explained: “He began to hit on me and he ordered me tied, what we call in Liberia, tabay. This was just before entering the administration building police office. When I did not talk they moved me into the building and then he said he will do something that will make me to talk and I cried. He brought a lady and this time I was blind folded and I was moved into that small building. I didn’t wear a shirt, but I wore trousers, and he pulled down my pants and electrocuted my private parts and I yelled, and I told him that the security people who brought me had lied on me. I told him I was Mandingo, but I was not a rebel fighter and I told him that I did not ask God to make me Mandingo, he made me what he choose to make me. And he tortured me, because of the pains and anguish and the shame, because he had a lady doing that to me, I couldn’t remember anything he was saying again after that. This affected me. I do not like to really talk about how it affected me. And I did not say anything, because there was nothing for me to say, because I was a journalist, I did not carry a gun. In short, Mr. Gibril Massaquoi introduced himself to me. I was not alone in the underground cell. There were many people, some soldiers, some civilians. All of which had been arrested because of me, but many of them were Mandingo”.
Background 1 further testified that during this first night in Klay, before he was moved to the second building where he was tortured, in addition to Gibril Massaquoi, a man called Joe Tuah was present. He explained that Joe Tuah beat and tortured him, and he is still afraid of him. The witness described that initially they were outside, Joe Tuah was there and started beating him. Then he was taken back to the underground cell. From there, he was taken out by Gibril Massaquoi. He was taken outside right in front of the underground cell, where the first interrogation took place. After that, he was taken in front of the building and then inside. Inside on the right, there was an office area with people inside, but Background 1 was taken to the left, where his torture began. Massaquoi took him to this room and the torture and electric shocks took place there.
The witness confirmed that he met Massaquoi outside the building. He was blindfolded and could hear noise to his right. As the blindfold was removed, Massaquoi was still talking, so he connected the Sierra Leonean accent that he had heard before to him. The witness’ blindfold was removed inside the building, in the room where Massaquoi had taken him. In addition to Massaquoi and the female torturer, Joe Tuah came to the door and left but did not come inside. Joe Tuah beat him outside the building and Massaquoi continued inside the room. Gibril Massaquoi would ask a question and if he didn’t get the answer he wanted, he would beat him. The witness could not remember if Massaquoi used anything besides his hand to hit him.
Background 1 testified that he was tied by tabay outside the building. It was Massaquoi who tied him. He demonstrated tabay to the court, showing how a person’s hands are tied behind their back so that their elbows touch. He stated that he still has a scar from being tied up with a rope similar to a clothesline. The witness testified that his genitals were electrocuted inside the room. The female torturer was acting on Massaquoi’s orders. Massaquoi would ask the questions and if he did not answer, he would order the woman to electrocute him. The witness heard the orders every time. He could not say what machine was used to electrocute him, but described electrodes and sparks coming out of it. He could not remember how many times he was electrocuted: “I was in so much pain I couldn’t remember”. He could not tell who the woman was. She was speaking in Mano, was not wearing any uniform and was not armed. The witness was certain that Gibril Massaquoi was the had the power of command because he was giving orders to the woman.
The witness had heard Massaquoi’s name before 26 July 2002. He had learned the name from the press, as the RUF’s spokesman. Background 1 had written about the RUF many times before his detention in Klay, but had not written specifically about Mr Massaquoi. He confirmed that while he was being electrocuted, there were only Massaquoi and the woman in the room. He was certain about Massaquoi’s identity, and had not seen him anywhere else. Background 1 did not confess to anything as he had nothing to say. He was crying uncontrollably and after a while, they stopped and took him back to the underground cell. A doctor was brought to treat his elbow. Every time Benjamin Yeaten came to Klay, he would be given a long-sleeved shirt and was told that if he told Yeaten about his torture, they would kill him. It was Joe Tuah who told him not to tell Yeaten.
Background 1 testified that when Joe Tuah was beating him outside the building, there were other people present. It was dark, so he could not tell who they were, but he came to recognize Gibril Massaquoi by his accent, and when he introduced himself to the witness. He did not hear the names of the other people there. They were not civilians, most of them did not have a uniform but had weapons, in what the witness described as a ‘military environment’.
The witness left Klay on a helicopter. He landed in the middle of the day on a highway and was blindfolded again. He was taken to Foya’s landing zone and from there to Kpello, a small village near Foya. There, he was handed over to Chinese Jabber and then to Mr Peterson. This took place late in August. Chinese Jabber was the commander of Liberian troops in Foya. Background 1 was then transferred to a prison in Foya. He was released on Saturday 7 December 2002. Some Liberians were protesting his detention and the American embassy, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch were pressuring President Taylor. Taylor finally agreed to release him on the condition he be flown into exile. That same day, the witness was driven to an airport and flown to Ghana and later to the USA.
According to Background 1, his work is viewed favorably as the current and previous Liberian governments have been unwilling or unable to implement the recommendations of the TRC. The co-operation of victims and witnesses has created possibilities for justice in Liberia, despite no Liberian being held responsible in the country. There are many different groups trying to sabotage GJRP’s work. He described that his testimony as a witness was leaked from a special court, which might affect future witnesses’ willingness to co-operate with courts and put his own life in danger. There are also people in the US, who have instigated former fighters to commit evil things. For this reason, he avoids travelling after 5 pm. The leak of his witness testimony put his and his daughters’ lives in danger and he believes that it was leaked due to this Massaquoi case. He stated: “There are people who would do anything to stop the forward movement of justice”.
The witness then testified about the accusations made against him and the GJRP. He explained that they have been accused of paying or coaching witnesses, which he denied, they only cover expenses incurred. According to Background 1, some people feel that they are the only ones who can do such work and try to protect their interests by preventing others from working on these issues. He further explained that the GJRP is accused of telling the witnesses exactly what they need to say. Background 1 stated: “I want this honorable court to remember about 250,000 Liberians and non-Liberians got killed during the war. Those people have relatives. There are people who saw these things. There is no shortage of witnesses for someone to pay some to testify”. A victim, such as the witness himself, knows what happened to them.
Background 1 testified that he has not been personally involved with this case. The Finnish police chose independently how to investigate the matter. Nobody from GJRP stayed in contact with Employee 1, who was given to the Finnish police to help. GJRP had conducted its own investigations before the Finnish police became involved. The witness described how they collect evidence relating to war and crimes which is then, depending on the jurisdiction, sent forward to states, who decide what to do with it. According to the witness, GJRP followed this procedure in the Massaquoi case. He had not been personally involved in the investigations that preceded the work of the Finnish police. He explained that he doesn’t usually do fieldwork unless he has specific knowledge about something. He had been asked by the police to get into contact with some people who were in prison with him. The day Employee 1 was transferred over to the Finnish police, everyone at GJRP was instructed to not speak to him about anything Massaquoi-related.
The witness testified that he knows that the things Massaquoi did, such as torture, are considered war crimes. He has no knowledge of the charges or the content of witness testimonies in this case besides what he could read in newspapers. He had not read any official documents by the Finnish authorities, such as the police report. Neither Employee 1 nor anyone else from GJRP or Civitas Maxima had told him about the contents of such documents.
The defense questions Background 1
The defense began by asking Background 1 about the people that were detained with him in Klay. He provided some names to the court and explained what he knew about them. They were all there on 26 July 2002, when he was taken to Klay. He testified that he told them what had happened to him the next day, as he returned to the cell.
The defense pointed out that the witness had first testified in the lower court that he did not know who had given the order to electrocute him, but a woman had done it. The witness explained that there had been a general order and he was unaware who had given it. Inside the room, it was clear that Massaquoi was giving orders. The defense pointed out that Background 1 was asked about this many times during his first hearing and he had answered that he could not tell who gave the order to the woman. He repeated that he knows Massaquoi gave the order to the woman, but in Klay, there was also a general order issued by someone else. Massaquoi was not Liberian, so he could not have done such things without a superior order. The defense also pointed out that Background 1 had testified in his first hearing that Massaquoi could have prevented the woman from electrocuting him and also that the woman was under Massaquoi’s command and control, which he confirmed.
The defense further pointed out that Background 1 had testified that Joe Tuah had hit him and had given Massaquoi advice. Background 1 confirmed that Joe Tuah spoke with Mr. Massaquoi, but he did not hear what they were talking about. The defense also pointed out that he had testified that Tuah had ordered Massaquoi to take him to the room to be tortured. Background 1 responded that Massaquoi was taking him to the room when Tuah came to talk to Massaquoi. He could not hear what they were talking about, he could only hear Massaquoi giving orders to the woman inside the room. He did not know who was the superior out of Tuah and Massaquoi. The defense pointed out that he had testified in the lower court that he believes Tuah to be superior to Massaquoi, to which he replied that this was only his belief and he could be mistaken.
Background 1 testified that when he was taken back to his cell after the torture, he told the other prisoners who had tortured him. He did not talk about it right away as he was too scared and in too much pain. He mentioned it the next day to a few people, not everyone. He mentioned that he had been tortured to a couple of ‘reliable guys’. The witness explained: “In my culture a different lady does not touch your private and electrocuting on the privates in my culture is abhorrent.” He had used both the names Angel Gabriel and Gibril Massaquoi when describing the person who tortured him. The witness provided the names of the people who he told about the torture, who have the same ethnic background as him. He stated: “I did not want it to spread. Thus, I told a few confidantes, in my culture it’s shameful”. This occurred the next day when they were in the dark, underground cell with water in it.
The defense referred to the witness’ testimony in the Special Court for Sierra Leone. He had mentioned that he had been electrocuted and that he had been tortured and interrogated by Benjamin Yeaten, Joe Tuah and their SS men. Background 1 replied that this was a different interrogation to the one on 26 July, he had been interrogated over 20 times. He had been electrocuted more than once, at least twice. The torture he was referring to in his testimony to the Special Court was different to the one that occurred on 26 July. Both happened in Klay. He described the other time as ‘milder’, as if to ‘tease’ him. Yeaten was there but did not do it himself. When Yeaten was present, the witness was not electrocuted on his genitals. The defense pointed out that according to Background 1’s testimony at the Special Court, he was electrocuted on his genitals by Yeaten and his men, which he confirmed. The witness demonstrated to the court how Yeaten and his men gave him electric shocks directed at his genitals but with his trousers still on.
The defense asked why the marks of his torture had to be hidden from Yeaten if he was also involved. The witness clarified that only the signs of the tabay had to be hidden from Yeaten but he did not know why. He had not mentioned Gibril Massaquoi in his hearing in the Special Court, as the lawyer had not asked about it, his lawyer had told him what to focus on. He stated that he had mentioned Gibril Massaquoi’s name in the context of the worst torture.
Background 1 testified further that Gibril Massaquoi introduced himself as Gibril Massaquoi, Angel Gabriel. This took place in Klay. The first time he mentioned his name was on the stairs leading into the building. Inside the building, Massaquoi mentioned his name numerous times, he could not keep count of how many. He gave an example: “When I was crying, he said look at me, you are talking to Angel Gabriel”. The first time, he wanted him to confess to a conspiracy against President Taylor. The witness could not explain why Angel Gabriel introduced himself. He mentioned the name Gibril Massaquoi first. The witness explained that in Islam, God has two arch angels; Michael and Gibril, which is an Arabic name, or Gabriel. He did not know where Gibril Massaquoi had gotten his name from, but the two names represent the same angel in many religions. Massaquoi had said that Gibril means Gabriel, Angel Gabriel.
The defense referred to a passage of the witness’ testimony at Charles Taylor’s trial, which had been submitted into evidence: ‘I also saw someone there, (…) Gibril Massaquoi. He told me, when he tortured me, if I knew what Gibril meant, I said yes, because I understand Arabic. It means Gabriel. He said OK, I am your angel for your Gabriel’. The witness explained that at the time, in 2009, he lived in Boston, USA and travelled to the Hague for Taylor’s trial. GJRP did not exist at the time. It was founded three years later in 2012, when he moved to Liberia. He testified: “It was I who was dehumanized and tortured, it become my conviction to help other people who were also tortured”.
The defense pointed out that he had not used the name Gibril Massaquoi in Taylor’s trial, he had only mentioned that the person was Sierra Leonean and had asked him if he knew what Gibril means. There was lengthy discussion on this point. Background 1 maintained that Massaquoi had introduced himself: “This guy was very proud of his name and what he did. He puts others down and put himself up like an Angel. Gibril Massaquoi would not have hidden his name, never”.
The defense further pointed out that Background 1 had testified at the Special Court that Gibril said that he had been instructed by Joseph Tate to make him talk. The witness responded that Joseph Tate died in a plane crash before June 2002, every journalist in Liberia knew this. He speculated that this might have been about some other interrogation, as he had been arrested so many times. He was certain that Joseph Tate died before 2002.
There was further discussion about what the witness had testified in previous trials regarding the names that Gibril used to introduce himself. The witness then clarified that the police chief at the time was Paul Mulbah, not Joseph Tate.
The defense then pointed out that during an interview conducted by Civitas Maxima in 2018, Background 1 had said that Gibril Massaquoi was the person using the electrocution machine, and that Joe Tuah was also present and used the machine. Background 1 responded that he had already mentioned that there were multiple instances of torture. The interview with Civitas Maxima was very detailed and culturally difficult for him, as the interviewer was a woman. He maintained that he is certain that it was Gibril Massaquoi.
The defense pointed out that the witness had mentioned in the Civitas Maxima interview that he was taken to Klay on 26 July 2002 and that he had been there for at least a week and undergone at least two rounds of torture before Gibril came. Background 1 responded that before Independence Day on 26 July, he had been arrested at Zone Six in Brewersville. There must be a mistake in the CM interview notes, as he was taken to Klay on 26 July and Gibril Massaquoi tortured him on that day. That was the first time he had been tortured in Klay. Before Klay, he had been tortured in many instances in the various prisons he was kept, at least twice, as he was there for more than a month. The witness listed other locations where he had been tortured: Zone 6, Zone 5 in Congo Town, Red Light, Zone 7. The defense then brought up the fact that Background 1 did not mention the woman in his interview with Civitas Maxima but spoke about her later in his interview with the Finnish police. The witness repeated that it was culturally difficult to discuss this with a woman with whom he worked.
Background 1 testified that he does not know Civilian 20 and knows many people with the same name as Civilian 19. He stated that he believed he had given a report to Civitas Maxima on how Civilian 20 had been contacted for this trial, as they do with every witness. He had not been involved in pre-interviews relating to Gibril Massaquoi. These interviews covered only basic information as to whether the witness has any information about a particular incident or person as well as their contact information. Background 1 did not recognize Civilian 20’s name and repeated that he does not conduct these pre-interviews himself. He had not been present in a preliminary interview conducted for Civitas Maxima about Gibril Massaquoi. The witness could not remember when or how he was first in contact with the Finnish police. He had met Thomas and another policeman, to help convince the Liberian government to allow the Finnish court to operate in Liberia, and to allow the Finnish police to investigate in Liberia.
The defense asked about the Finnish police’s first trip to Liberia. Background 1 testified that he was not involved in this case, as he is a victim in the case. GJRP worked with with the police on all practical matters. The Finnish police chose for Employee 1 to work with them, they made the decision independently. According to Background 1, when Employee 1 was not working for the Finnish police, he was working at GJRP. Employee 1 did not tell them anything about the case. The witness could not remember if they had an agreement to not talk about anything related to Gibril Massaquoi, but Employee 1 had strict instructions not to work on the case unless asked by the police. The Finnish police told Employee 1 these instructions when he began working for them, but Background 1 did not know the content or nature of the instructions.
The defense asked about another employee at GJRP. Background 1 explained that this employee had not been involved in monitoring the first trial. Due to security concerns, GJRP had hired security guards to secure the area used for the trial and he was their supervisor. Background 1 had not been involved in discussions about how to find [REDACTED]. They are from the same county, but the witness does not know where he lives. He could not remember discussing finding [REDACTED] with the Finnish police.
At the end of his hearing, Background 1 addressed the court, saying: “I want to thank everyone here. This is a great story for Liberia. We have thousands of victims, like me, who don’t have this kind of opportunity for justice. I want to thank the police and the judiciary in Finland. God bless you and thank you”.
It was pointed out that the witness identified the defendant as Massaquoi from the series of photographs presented to him at his police interview.
