Outcry after a rapper's dreadlocks were severed while he was being held in detention

Police in Sierra Leone has been accused of abusing and inhumanely treating Alhaji Amadu Bah, popularly known as Boss LAJ, a prominent artist and rapper.

After being arrested over robbery allegations more than a week ago, the rapper had his signature dreadlocks shaved while in police custody.

He allegedly "mercilessly" beat up a pump employee and seized his bag at a gas station where he had gone to get gas after complaining that they had delayed him, according to the police.

On Monday, he was charged with four charges of robbery with violence and assault, and he has yet to enter a plea. He was placed in a high-security prison and is due back in court on Wednesday.

While in police custody, he was allegedly injected with a substance and had his dreadlocks forcibly shaved, causing controversy and condemnation.

All male suspects in jail, however, are required by law to have their hair shaved, according to police.

Ambrose Sovula, the police chief, also claimed that the rapper tried to commit himself by cutting his hair.

"That's part of our SOP [standard operating procedure] for the place's hygiene... he thought he was being arrested unfairly, so he began strangling himself with his hair."

"He had planned to assassinate himself... He told the BBC's Focus on Africa program, "This is the truth and nothing but the truth."

Madieu Sesay, Bah's lawyer, called this "propaganda." He claimed he was being detained in solitary confinement and that they were not allowed to speak with him in detail.

He last saw him on Tuesday last week, and "his appearance was completely different from the image I know of him," he told the BBC.

People's rights being violated is "unacceptable" and "inhuman," according to Michael Charles, the chairman of the country's bar organization.

In sympathy with the arrested rapper, other Sierra Leoneans, notably artist Fantacee Wiz Kamara, have shaved their heads.