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.

Sheriff’s charges stem from a speech she made in January, a video recording of which was played at the trial. According to prosecutors, Sheriff made statements during a rally saying that anyone who rigged an election had stolen the people’s vote, committed treason and they and their families should be killed.

During the last election in Sierra Leone in 2023, organisations including the Carter Center, a US election monitoring group, expressed concern about the transparency of the tabulation process.

“A lot of us feel this isn’t about Sheriff’s words,” said Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr, mayor of the capital, Freetown, and a member of the All People’s Congress opposition party. “This is about Sheriff being used as a very, very visible, high-profile example of what you must not do in this society now. You must not speak your mind or you can be charged and end up in jail.

“This is about ensuring that people are scared,” she said. “I am disappointed [in the sentence]. And that’s an understatement. The bottom line is, we’ve heard far worse.”

Arrested on 20 February, Sheriff pleaded not guilty. She was repeatedly denied bail and was sentenced on 14 April. She is being held in a maximum-security prison in Freetown.

Willietta Hughes, legal manager for AdvocAid, a civil society organisation working with girls and women in Sierra Leone, supported Sheriff’s case. She said the court proceedings were at times reminiscent of a show trial and called the sentence “ridiculous”. No evidence was presented that Sheriff’s comments had provoked any public reaction, she said.

“We have seen people who have said far worse than what she said and they were either not prosecuted or were given a very low term,” Hughes said. “I see [Sheriff’s case] as sending a message to people that you can’t get up one day and say x, y and z, which is a person’s legal right.”

She added: “It’s a laughing issue, but we’ve seen the trend where the law is being utilised as a weapon against people who speak up.”

Sheriff’s sentence comes a year after Hawa Hunt, a social media influencer, was arrested on live television for posts she made about Sierra Leone’s president, Julius Maada Bio, and the first lady, Fatima Bio, in May 2023. She was detained for two months.

In March 2023, five UN experts wrote to President Bio about the detention and treatment of more than 40 people, predominately women, by the authorities on 4 July 2022 for protesting about increased living costs and the government’s handling of the economy.

Hughes said the case had chilling implications. “As women, we are placed in a certain category where you can only say certain things,” she said. “The moment you say words which appear to be a bit strong, you are considered to be violating some sort of rule or law, and acting against your own gender.”

In a recent interview, Nemata Majeks Walker, a prominent women’s rights activists and founder of the 50/50 Group, spoke out about the climate for women in Sierra Leone, saying repeatedly that she was “scared”.

“It is sad that women’s voices are being oppressed, but women will continue to speak up,” she said. “They will be guarded but they will continue to speak. It will be difficult to speak the truth because you are scared, but we will continue to express that we have a right to take part in politics, we have a right to hold positions of power.”

Aki-Sawyerr added: “It is scary the way the laws are being used. That’s why we have to keep speaking up. We can’t just ignore what I would say is the transformation of our democracy into an authoritarian state.”