Thomas Weh Syen

Thomas Weh Syen (died August 15, 1981) was a Liberian soldier and politician. He was a leading member of the group of enlisted men that overthrow the country's government in an April 1980 military coup d'état, and accordingly he became one of the leaders of the new military junta, the People's Redemption Council. In the wake of the coup d'état, he took the title of major general in the Armed Forces of Liberia and became the co-chairman of the PRC; as a result, he was the immediate deputy of Commander-in-Chief Samuel Doe and the Vice Head of State.[1]

From the earliest days of the PRC, Doe and Syen clashed; testimony before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2008 revealed that their disagreements began during the coup itself, when Weh Syen and Doe forcibly disagreed about the disposal of money that had been stolen from the home of the newly murdered President William R. Tolbert Jr.[2] While a member of the PRC, he was partly responsible for educational affairs,[1] but his time on the Council was short-lived. After allegedly attempting to kill Doe in a second coup financed by Muammar Al-Gaddafi,[3] five PRC members, including Weh Syen, were shot in August 1981 on Doe's orders.[4]

Weh Syen was tried in a court-martial at the Temple of Justice in Monrovia. Weh-Syen and the other imprisoned party members were brought to the yard. According Hunder they realized they were about to die and “broke into loud cries and howling in English,” Hunder recalled. “My people, they coming to kill us!” the men cried, according to Hunder. “Doe is killing us! Ohhhh!” They were “savagely and unceremoniously gunned down” shortly after midnight, Hunder said, and the government later announced they were shot trying to escape. He was replaced as Vice Head of State by PRC Speaker J. Nicholas Podier.[5]

Weh Syen and five were charged with murder and a backlash plot against the Doe government, but no evidence of conspiracy was publicly presented during their hasty three-day military trial.

The speed and secrecy of the trial left a fear on Monrovia. Liberians who felt safe openly discussing their disagreements with the Doe administration now do so only privately in secluded places.[6]

He was the father of a son, Thomas Weh Syen Jr., who died soon after his father — on 24 December 1981, the 5½-year-old boy was hit by a car while he was crossing a street near his home.[7]