H L Willis & Associates 

Leonel Tebo, a refugee from Cameroon, who has been in custody in Grenada for more than a month, has been released and given temporary refugee status.

There is no decision yet on what will happen to the 25 year old who claims he is fleeing the civil war in Cameroon.

However, Monday he was released into the custody of a local businesswoman who agreed to take him in after becoming aware of his plight.

The “Good Samaritan” told The New Today newspaper that Tebo was nervous and suspicious because of what he has been through for the last month.

“He was very nervous. He had to call my phone to make sure it was me when they told him him he could go.”

Cameroon’s ongoing political conflict, known as the Anglophone crisis, has claimed thousands of lives and displaced many more. The crisis erupted in October 2016 when a series of sectoral grievances turned into political demands, which led to strikes and riots.

“I can’t go back to my home town, I have not seen my mother for the past three years now, lost my love ones, friends and family members.”

Since arriving in Grenada on March 14 he has been detained at the island’s Central Police Station and those in authority have said they intend to repatriate him to his war torn country as soon as the airport reopens.

Herricia Willis, the attorney who has taken Tebo’s case pro bono, was able to make representation Monday to have him released from police custody.

Speaking to The New Today Newspaper minutes after her client was set free, Willis said, “He was released because he did nothing wrong and they had no reason to hold him.

“It’s quite strange because no information has been taken from him, no statement or anything.

“He is seeking asylum so there was no reason for him to be held there(police lock-up) for so long.”

Tebo went on a hunger strike last week Thursday to protest the conditions under which he is being held and the failure of Grenadian authorities to acknowledge his application for asylum and the day before his release he was rushed to the hospital after falling ill. He was then placed on suicide watch by officers at the Central Police Station.

The facility where Tebo was being held is not designed for long-term detention and he has been forced to sleep on the floor for almost four weeks, while access to hygiene was difficult.

Willis said Tebo terrified because he had been told by the police that he would be charged and sent to the Richmond Hill Prison.

The lawyer said her client has also been asked to return to the police station to make an official statement at a later date.

Grenada’s regulations only allow for the protection of refugees and asylum seekers who need to transit through Grenada to wherever they are being settled.

While it may be possible to make a special arrangement to allow him to stay, it is not a precedent that the Grenadian authorities may be willing to set.

Tebo was turned away from Trinidad and Tobago where there is a United Nations Hugh Commissioner for Refugees office and returned to Grenada where he has been detained since.

Grenadian authorities have said they are waiting for ports to reopen to repatriate him to Cameroon because the Grenada Constitution does not have provisions for asylum seekers and refugees.

“What we are going to do now is start the process for his application for asylum,” his attorney said.

International Human Rights regulations says a refugee cannot to be returned to the country they have fled from but so far Tebo’s case has not received any attention from any Human Rights agency.

Recently Tebo wrote to the UNHCR in Washington, the agency responsible for such matters in the Caribbean and they have responded, requesting more information.

Tebo has attracted solidarity from many Grenadians after his story was made public in a  New Today article last week.

While in custody he received bags of food and supplies from people who wanted to help.