Africa-Press – Liberia. Mr. Hassan Bility the director of the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), a nongovernmental organization has been accused of extorting money from the international community and lying on innocent Liberians on war crimes.
Mr. Bility latest critics is Mr. Varflay Dorley, a family friend to Mr. Bility who accused him of destroying him and his family after he was made to believe that as a victim of war, his friend’s network was going to ensure that he, Dorley, received money as a victim of the war but it all turnout to be a scam.
According to Dorley, when he phoned in on the Hot FM Radio Morning program, Mr. Bility had made him travel to New York under the pretense that the group was paying victims of the war but surprisingly when he got there he was asked to sign a document committing that he would testify against former rebel general Martina Johnson which he refused, because, according to him, he didn’t know her.
“They wanted me to go Belgium to testify against General Martina Johnson. I was disappointed and could not believe what I was hearing. I told them Bility didn’t tell me about going Belgium; he said I was coming to receive money. I don’t know Martina Johnson, I am not a solider. I have never held gun and as a Muslim I will never lie on someone.
“I refused to sign a document committing that I will go Belgium we called Bility for hours he didn’t pick. I called him for four days he didn’t answer, the fourth day he called me asking me why I didn’t agree. They sent me document on what needed to be said I refused,” he alleged.
In a telephone conversation with Mr. Bility, he denied some of the allegations made by Dorley but confirmed that Dorley is a family friend he has known for years. He said Mr. Dorley has never been wanted for any war related crimes. According to him, Dorley is creating sentiment because he wants to come back to Liberia to get a job. Dorley is a founding member of the ruling CDC which he himself confirmed stating that President George Weah is his friend.
“There is no indictment for Varflay Dorley. There is nobody after him. He didn’t fight war, nobody islooking for him. Nobody is looking for him for any war related issue. It is a complete lie, he wants sympathy so he can come to Liberia and get a job. That is not my business, I am not in politics. To the best of my knowledge, the U.S. Justice Department has nothing on Varflay related to war crimes. He lied.
“He got afraid that they wanted to arrest him for some contradictions he may have provided to the US immigration when he took asylum, but I didn’t know why he is in Canada. The best enemies of the work I do is my people who are the Mandingos.”
Currently, according to Mr. Dorley, he is in Canada because he had received tipoff of being arrested for some of the things Bility had earlier threatened him of because he refused to agree to lie on Martina Johnson and to travel from the U.S. to Gbakadu, Lofa County to testify against Mr. Thomas Jucontee-Worwiyou who was on trial for war crimes specially the Gbakadu massacred.
He also said, Bility was a close ally to the late Professor Alahji Kromah who founded the LAURD fraction armed, but he didn’t indict him. He also claimed because of the relationship he (Bility) had with Kromah, Kromah opened the Analyst newspaper for him and others to work. He was an inner confidant of Alahaji Kromah. He vowed that I will be destroyed and he destroyed my life.
“Because I refused to go on the two missions, I received signal that he wrote the homeland security to lie about me that I am a jihadist. In 2019, I received a letter from the homeland security calling me for investigation base on what Billity had threatened. I took a lawyer and appeared, I explained how because he wanted me go on a mission I refused so he had done this but it was under Donald Trump how I tell my story? so I left for Canada.
“I am a family person. I taught about my wife and Kids what will happen to them? I was worried I have worked at the highest level in the US, I cried why do you want to destroy me? I have no reason to lie on Bility had it not being my desire to stop the lies and extortion I would have remain mute.”
There is no shortage of witnesses
On allegations of wanting to use Dorley to testify against Martina Johnson, Mr. Bility claimed it is an allegation fabricated by Dorley because according to him there is and has never been a shortage of witnesses for war crimes in Liberia.
“There is no shortage of witnesses. If I wanted a witness to the Gbakadu incident I would have many. I contacted him because he is from there and his brother was killed I asked if I could passed his number over but probably he wanted money.”
Hassan Bility is the director of the Global Justice and Research Project (GJRP), a nongovernmental organization dedicated to the documentation of war time atrocities in Liberia and to assisting victims in their pursuit of justice for these crimes.
Under Mr. Bility’s leadership, the GJRP’s documentation work has led to the investigation and arrests of alleged Liberian war criminals throughout Europe and the U.S., including the arrest of former Liberian rebel commanders Alieu Kosiah in Switzerland, and Martina Johnson in Belgium; the arrest of Charles Taylor’s ex-wife Agnes Reeves Taylor in the UK; and the arrest and eventual conviction of former ULIMO rebel commander Mohammed Jabbateh in the U.S. We are honored to award him the Judith Lee Stronach Human Rights award for his courage, and his singular pursuit of justice for Liberia.
Mr. Bility was one of the most prominent Liberian journalists and human rights activists during Liberia’s civil war. While serving as Editor in Chief of the Analyst Newspaper under the regime of Charles Taylor, he was arrested and brutally tortured on Taylor’s orders because of his critical, independent journalism. He later testified in several trials, including the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) and Charles Taylor trials at the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), the trial of Charles McArthur Emmanuel commonly known as Chuckie Taylor in the U.S. and the Guus Kouwenhoven trial in the Netherlands.
