Presidential Immunity Must Not Become a Burial Cloth for JusticeBy Oumar Farouk SesaySierra Leone investigates stolen money through commissions, hearings and sanctions. Now, reports that former presidents may be granted immunity threaten to turn that silence into law. A president may need limited safeguards against frivolous lawsuits while in office, but permanent immunity after leaving office is something else entirely: a license for power to escape consequences. In Sudan, Omar al-Bashir remained beyond the reach of international arrest for years while Darfur’s victims waited. It must never shield unlawful killing, torture, enforced disappearance, corruption, obstruction of justice or the concealment of abuse.