Kanifing residents express Solidarity with Imam Baba Lee 

Shortly after his arrest on Friday by the National Intelligence Agency over 
remarks he made during one of his Friday sermons, the Imam of the Kanifing 
East mosque Baba Lee has received the overwhelming support and solidarity of 
members of his congregation and the residents of the Kanifing Estate. Abdou 
Mbye, a civil servant condemned the arrest, arguing that Imam Lee was merely 
expressing his opinions about the extravagancies in the society and other 
social vices, which he said has been condemned by Islam. He therefore urged 
him to continue with his work in accordance with the teachings of Islam. 

For his part, Momodou Manneh also condemned Imam Lee's arrest by the NIA. He 
said if Imam Lee could be arrested just for speaking against the wastage of 
public resources on unnecessary ceremonies, then he said no one is now safe 
in this country. He added that all the other imams at one time or the other 
also speak against such vices in the society. Therefore he said he could not 
see why Imam Lee should be victimized for doing exactly what he is expected 
to do as a religious leader. He however urged Imam Lee not to be daunted in 
his duty to talk against the vices of the society. 

Ebrima Janneh, an Islamic scholar at Serign Mass Kah Senior Secondary school, 
in his turn said from the Islamic point of view, wastage of public resources 
is wrong and should be condemned. He therefore commended Imam Lee for 
speaking against such things. A businessman Bai Omar said Imam Lee's arrest 
for what he said during his sermon was unjustified. He said Imam Lee is a man 
of truth and justice and that he was just exercising his religious mandate an 
imam to talk to his congregation about issues of concern to the society and 
he saw no justification in arresting him for that. He however expressed the 
confidence that Imam lee was not going to be intimidated by such harassment 
and that he will continue to always stand for the truth and justice for 
everyone. 

One woman who spoke on condition of anonymity pointed out that the arrest of 
Imam Lee was meant to prevent him from talking about those issues that the 
government does not want him to talk about. She said the arrest was once 
again another manifestation of how uncomfortable the government is about 
freedom of speech. Amie Sarr, a housewife said imam Lee's arrest may have 
been a pre-emptive move to prevent him from criticizing the wastage of 
resources during the cultural festival recently held in Kanilai. 

All the other fifteen people who spoke to our reporter expressed similar 
sentiments, but one woman advised Imam Lee not to be confrontational with the 
authorities. She however added that the NIA should not have arrested him just 
for exercising his mandate as Imam to speak against anything that he saw as 
wastage of public resources.   
    
    

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