Lawmaker arrested in Sierra Leone over unsafe burial

Alie Badara, a lawmaker from the northern district of Kambia in Sierra Leone has been arrested and remanded in police custody for allegedly flouting the country’s anti-Ebola laws by washing the body of his dead father.

According to Assistant Inspector-General Fuk Daboh, Bedara is accused of taking part in a traditional burial ceremony last Friday without informing the authorities of the death.

Said Daboh,

“He is a lawmaker and he is supposed to have kept within the code of the by-laws. He will be charged (in) court soon,”

Since the outbreak of the Ebola virus in December 2013, 27,135 people were infected and 11,145 died mainly in Guinea, Sierra Leone and neighbouring Liberia, which was declared Ebola-free on May 9th.

Guinea, where the outbreak began in late 2013, recorded nine new cases in the week to May 24, compared to 27 the week before, while in Sierra Leone, the weekly count of new cases dropped from eight to three.