Former Attorney General Joseph Kamara Released After Five Days in Detention

Former Attorney General Joseph Fitzgerald Kamara was released from prison on 13 October 2026 after spending five days in detention, according to a report by The Sierra Leone Telegraph.

Kamara, who is acting as senior counsel for the opposition All Peoples’ Congress Party, was expected to return to the Supreme Court in Freetown as proceedings resumed on Tuesday.

Constitutional amendment case continues

The court proceedings involve arguments by government and APC lawyers over a decision by the Speaker of Parliament concerning the voting requirement for constitutional amendments.

The issue before the court is whether the Constitution can be amended without the support of two-thirds of all elected members of Parliament. The Sierra Leone Telegraph reported that the Speaker had decided that such a threshold was not necessary.

The report did not state the outcome of the proceedings.

Arrest followed courtroom dispute

Kamara was arrested in court the previous week on the orders of Chief Justice Komba Kamanda. The detention followed what the report described as a heated argument between Kamara and the Chief Justice over legal procedural matters.

According to the report, Kamara apologized and retracted his remarks after the dispute. The Chief Justice did not accept the apology and retraction, and Kamara remained in custody for five days.

The Sierra Leone Telegraph also reported that some people viewed the summary custodial sentence as an abuse of the Chief Justice’s authority. It did not identify those individuals.

Kamara was expected to resume his advocacy for the opposition APC before the Supreme Court. No official release statement or further details about the legal basis of his detention were provided in the report.