Cyber Security and Crime Act, 2021 (Act No. 7 of 2021) (Sierra Leone)

Sierra Leone's Cyber Security and Crime Act, 2021 (Act No. 7 of 2021) is the country's principal cybercrime and cybersecurity statute. It was passed by Parliament on 23 June 2021 and assented to in November 2021, and provides a comprehensive framework for preventing the abusive use of computers, securing the timely and effective collection of electronic evidence, protecting critical national information infrastructure, and promoting cybersecurity. On the substantive side, the Act criminalises a wide range of cyber-dependent and cyber-enabled offences, including illegal access (hacking), illegal interception, data and system interference, misuse of devices, computer-related forgery and fraud, identity theft, and the distribution of malicious software, along with content offences such as child sexual abuse material and cyber-harassment. Some content provisions, including those touching on the publication of information online, have attracted criticism from press-freedom and digital-rights advocates concerned about their potential use against journalists and ordinary users. Procedurally, the Act equips law-enforcement and prosecutors with powers to obtain and preserve electronic evidence, including expedited preservation, production orders, search and seizure of stored computer data, and interception, broadly aligned with the Council of Europe Budapest Convention model. It also provides for international cooperation in cyber investigations. Institutionally, the Act establishes the architecture for national cybersecurity governance, including provision for a national cybersecurity coordination function and a computer security incident response capability, with the Ministry responsible for communications and a national cybersecurity body overseeing implementation. The Act sits alongside Sierra Leone's developing data protection framework (the Data Protection and Right to Access Information Bill, recorded separately as a draft) and the National Payment Systems Act 2022. Digital-rights dimension (June 2026 sweep): the Act's content offences have a documented chilling effect on online expression. Section 44 (cyberstalking/cyber-harassment) criminalises communications intended to coerce, intimidate, harass or cause emotional distress, and has been applied to social-media posts and journalism, the prosecutions of journalist Sorie Saio Sesay and politician Kemoh Sesay are cited by the Sierra Leone Association of Journalists and others as evidence that the Act is being used to silence critics. This sits in tension with Sierra Leone's landmark July 2020 repeal of the 55-year-old criminal and seditious libel provisions of the Public Order Act 1965 (effected through the Independent Media Commission Act 2020), a major press-freedom gain. During anti-government protests on 10 August 2022 the internet was disrupted nationwide, and the National Cybersecurity Coordination Centre issued a notice warning of ten- to twenty-year prison terms for sharing online information 'to destabilise the State'; the shutdown itself was imposed without a clearly disclosed statutory basis and is noted as a jurisdiction-level gap that may belong under Telecoms. Source language: English.

1. 1Sierra Leone's principal cybercrime and cybersecurity statute; passed by Parliament 23 June 2021 and assented November 2021
2. 2Substantive offences: illegal access (hacking), illegal interception, data and system interference, misuse of devices, computer-related forgery and fraud, identity theft and distribution of malware
3. 3Content offences including child sexual abuse material and cyber-harassment; some content provisions criticised by press-freedom advocates
4. 4Digital-rights concern: Section 44 (cyberstalking/cyber-harassment) applied to social-media posts and journalism (e.g. prosecutions of Sorie Saio Sesay and Kemoh Sesay), criticised by SLAJ as a tool to silence critics
5. 5Context: the 2021 Act post-dates Sierra Leone's landmark July 2020 repeal of criminal/seditious libel (Public Order Act 1965) via the Independent Media Commission Act 2020; the 10 August 2022 protest-related internet disruption had no clearly disclosed statutory basis (jurisdiction-level gap)
6. 6Procedural powers: expedited preservation, production orders, search and seizure of stored data, and interception, broadly aligned with the Budapest Convention
7. 7Establishes national cybersecurity governance and incident-response architecture; sits alongside Sierra Leone's draft data protection bill and the National Payment Systems Act 2022