Just reading this testimony makes me shiver.  Even if Bojang is guilty, is
this the way to treat the accused?  By the way, this has been the standard
treatment for the accused in the Gambia all these decades.  Ask any that had
the misfortune to be sent to the former Criminal Investigation Department
(CID) offices or any police station and you will hear the same brutality
using the same crude instruments of torture.  The NIA is just an extension
of the CID and that is one agency that is to be seriously reviewed with a
change of government and heads will have to roll.  Some of these guys made
it a career to torture folks and we all know them and they will also steal
from the very people they are torturing.  I feel sorry for the murdered
victim and his family, but we need to do something about our half-baked
interrogators/torturers.  When was the last time any of these clowns sat in
any class to study how to interrogate or investigate anything?  What we call
interrogation is actually beating you to pulp until you adopt whatever lie
they want you to say.

This reminds me of the late Nicks Kujabi (M**ty Saharr).  This character
came to talk to one of my siblings, Sam, back in the early 80s, that had a
dispute with members of the Band he was managing, I believe it was Gelewarr
and seized their instruments.  Nicks began to use profanity in our yard and
my late sibling, Louis asked him to respect the household and the guy just
went ballistic and before you know it they got into a tussle.  Next thing
you know the whole compound was full of plain clothes folks, some of whom
grew up with my older sibling and looked funny in their capacity to assist
Nicks to arrest Louis.  But he did not continue with his promise to deal
with him when they got to the Police station, I wonder what made him change
his mind.  Nicks was by no means alone in this, and among the most notorious
were Tex Khan, Lie Joof (M**ty), etc. to name a few.  Now, looking at their
backgrounds, what were their qualifications as investigators, interrogators,
criminologists, etc.?  Nothing.  They just thieved on decades of brutality
and abuse and took pride in that.  Some of the folks that run the July 22
thuggry graduated from this class of criminals.  It seems as if now anyone
with a badge also has license to torture from the NIA to the Fireman.  We
need to change our society from this crudeness.    We have to set new
standards of professionalism and relieve the jungle beasts from their
misery.  Let them use that energy to hurl wood some place else and not on
humans.  Please read on.


Briton’s alleged murderer testifies
By Ousman Darboe
May 5, 2004, 13:44

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Dawda Bojang, one of the men accused of murdering the British national, Ron
Ford, has told the court he made no statement to the police despite series
of electrical shocks he was subjected to, while undergoing detention at the
National Intelligence Agency, (NIA).

Appearing before Magistrate Ngui Janneh of Banjul courts yesterday, Mr
Bojang said he underwent extensive torture while in the hands of police
officers, Pateh Bah and Musa Mboob.

“I was taken to the NIA office by these two officers together with Kargbo
and KJ and I was stripped naked and officers Bah and Mboob took an
electrical wire and shocked me on my penis and anus, while I was tied with
ropes all over my body. My legs were tied to the window and my head was down
and they continued to torture me. Bah again forced me to talk on this murder
case but I refused. I was shocked until I fainted and could no longer move.
I heard one man who advised police officer Bah and Mboob to stop the
electrical shock on my penis and anus,” Bojang said.
However, Bojang said after the torture meted out to him, he later saw Kawsu
Jarju, his co-accused and one Momodou Salieu Jallow entering the office he
was put in. He said police officers Kargbo and KJ also brought with them a
man and two women who were all accused of the murder of Ron Ford.

“Police officers Bah and Mboob undressed Kawsu Jarju and Momodou Salieu
Jallow and started shocking them with electric wires. After the tortured
meted to us, the officers took us into the NIA cells while my hands were
cuffed for six days,” he narrated.

On a particular Monday, Mr Bojang said, the officers took them to the hall
of torture and brought papers with writings on them. “Bah told me to
thumbprint it but I refused. He took my hand and forcefully put it in ink.
As he was forcing me to stamp it, I removed my hands from his grip and the
ink splashed on the papers. I was again tortured. They went and came back
with some papers and again dipped my fingers in and forcefully stamped it on
the papers,” he testified.

Asked by his lawyer, Sheriff Tambedou, whether he voluntarily made any
cautionary statements to Pateh Bah, the accused said, “No, I was never
willing to stamp any document but I was forced to do it.”

When further asked if he knew Lamin Manga, Mr Bojang said he met him once at
the Brikama court when he was giving his evidence. Mr Manga told the court
that Bojang stamped the papers in his presence, but Bojang said, “that is
not correct. I never set eye on him until at Brikama court.”
Mr Bojang further explained to the court that it was one Friday, while he
was having his breakfast, when he was telephoned and asked to report to
Bakau police station. “I was taken to Kairaba Police Station and I was
slapped and beaten by Musa Mboob. He used a bicycle cable and beat me on my
back and I sustained injuries. They hand-cuffed me and put me in a cell
without clothes.

Officer Mboob had also asked me to say something about this murder case
which took place in Senegal but I told him that I knew nothing about it.
Around 12pm that same day, “I was taken to my compound at Kerr Serign with
police escort and my elder brother, Lamin Bojang was also arrested after
inquiring why my body was bloodstained. My house was raided by Pateh Bah and
Musa Mboob and they took my suitcase which contained watches, two mobile
phones, some cash and other valuable materials,” Bojang stated.

Bojang said he told the officers he did not steal the money from the
“toubab” as they claimed. He said his brother Lamin Bojang was later
released by the police. He told the court that he was also taken to Police
Intervention Unit (PIU), Kanifing, where Fire officers were ordered to
torture him.

“Some poured water on me while others used a hose pipe and beat me all over
my body. The personnel were ordered by both Mboob and Bah,” he said.

At this junction, Lawyer Tambedou applied for an adjournment as he had
another matter to be heard at the high court. No objection was raised by
state lawyer, Awa Bah.
The case was adjourned to May 11.

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