America Offers No Asylum for Kidnapped Sierra Leone Man

The U.S. Court of Appeals has denied a kidnapped Sierra Leone man political asylum because he unwillingly aided the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), which is considered a “terrorist organization” by federal authorities.

According to court documents, during Sierra Leone’s catastrophic civil war in 2001 - three rebels from the RUF forcibly entered Musa Sesay’s Freetown home and demanded he join their organization. When Sesay refused – and while his parents pleaded for his safety - the rebels blindfolded him and took him away.

Over approximately the next month, the rebels periodically asked Sesay whether he was ready to join the RUF. He refused each time and was beaten in response.

After about one month of imprisonment, the rebels moved Sesay to a RUF encampment where he witnessed some captives being executed and saw others with missing body parts. While imprisoned, the rebels tried to train him to use a machine gun.

Again, Sesay refused.

Because Sesay was untrained in weaponry, the rebels forced him to provide menial labor under armed guard, carrying soldiers’ weapons, ammunition, drinking water and food.

After about one month in the encampment, Sesay used the chaos of war to his advantage. When Guinean aircraft approached the encampment, frightening the rebels, Sesay escaped, fleeing to neighboring Guinea, and eventually Gambia.

In May 2001, he entered the United States and applied for asylum soon afterwards.

DENIED ASYLUM

In their precedential decision handed down on Tuesday, judges recognized the “harshness” of their decision.

“We recognize the harsh consequence of our holding, but it is compelled by policy decisions that reside with Congress and the Executive Branch,” wrote Cheryl Ann Krause, speaking for the three-judge panel.

“Sesay did not voluntarily provide material support to a terrorist group. To the contrary, he did so while being regularly assaulted and under the threat of death or severe bodily harm. Thus, we must grapple with an issue that our Circuit has yet to address: whether involuntary material support, even when provided under threat of death, bars an alien from receiving asylum or withholding of removal.”

“We conclude that it does,” summarized Krause.

Read the full court decision here.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

Photo caption: Young members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) pose with their weapons in 1997.

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