My Experience With the NIA (Cont'd)
By Alhagie Nyabally, Ex-Gamsu Vice President
Banjul, the Gambia



The Independent (Banjul)

COLUMN
May 28, 2001
Posted to the web May 28, 2001
allAfrica.com

At about 4.30 p.m., I dressed in my football gear to go for training. I
placed my football on the back carrier of my bicycle and started riding to
the park near the Buffer Zone in Talinding where our second division team
was training.

On my way to the football pitch, no sooner I took a curve from Bundung
police station than I sighted two unnumbered cars behind me, one was the
same Peugeot 505 that followed me from the GTTI and the other was a red
Nissan vehicle.

The red Nissan passed me and immediately stopped in front of my bicycle and
I nearly knocked into it but slammed my brake to stop, while the 505 packed
by my side. All of a sudden I saw two men coming out from the red Nissan who
asked whether I was Alhagie Nyabally and I said no. They started asking me
lots of questions, which I answered in the negative and after about two
minutes, I saw nine men surround me, including an army sergeant who I once
saw in Kanilai during our courtesy call on President Jammeh.

The army sergeant told me to put my bicycle in the car and before he
finished I had already pushed my bicycle on them and took to my heels. They
chased after me and shouting thief, and calling on people to help them catch
a thief but nobody helped them, as I was sportily dressed. I ran into one
Mr. Dibba's compound around and shouted, "help, the APRC people are taking
me. They want to kill me". I ran into an open house and closed the door
after me, held on firmly to the door handle but they came and forced open
the door by braking the lock and forcefully took me out. At that spot I
began receiving rains of blows on all parts of my body. I was bundled into
the Peugeot 505 and driven to Banjul.

On my way to Banjul, I was subjected to verbal insults while blows continued
to rain on me until we arrived in Banjul. While I was in the car, I was
forced to lie down on the car floor with two pistols pointed at me, one
pointing to my head while the other to my stomach, followed by inhuman
physical treatment. My knees were beaten with pistols while my eyes were
tied with my jacket until we arrived in Banjul. I was taken to the NIA
headquarters where I was made to sit on the floor and watered like a crop in
the desert. I was later asked to crawl on my knees to a dark cell where I
was locked until the following day.

The following day, I was taken to an office where I found about 13 men who
interrogated me. One of the men called Tijan Bah asked one Demba Ceesay to
undress me completely and take me in the flowers where I was again watered
like a crop. Then Tijan asked me to put on my underwear, shorts and shirt
and again several buckets full of water were poured on me. He (Tijan) again
asked me to lie on the ground and turn like the donkeys do. He later
instructed me to undress leaving only my underwear. I was then escorted by a
security officer to Tijan's office again meeting about eight men there,
including Tijan Bah, a man called Bamba and one Demba Ceesay together with
one other short and tough fellow who put a handcuff on my hands and asked me
to lie down. Then Tijan Bah, Bamba and the short and tough man started
torturing me very mercilessly and at the same time verbally insulting my
parents. All parts of my body were beaten and I sustained several injuries.
They used cables and ropes made from cow skin as well as electric machines
so that I was compelled to say things at their desire, I did not care
whether they were true or false.

At about 3 pm, after their interrogation, I was taken back to the same dark
room where I had spent the night. During the interrogation I was asked who
is sponsoring Gamsu, to which I told them were only sympathizers through
donations, sponsored walks etc. They also asked me who was behind and
helping Gamsu and I replied that it was the coalition of generous lawyers
like Ousman Sillah, Emmanuel Joof, Mrs. Awa Sisay-Sabally and many others. I
was also asked the amount we have in our account and I said we had only D500
when I last knew the figure. "How do you spend your money?" they asked, and
I replied that we spent it on fruitful ventures and sponsoring needy and
deserving students. Severe beatings and other forms of torture and inhuman
treatment followed all the questions.

On Thursday morning, I was again called for interrogation and at about 3pm,
I was asked to write down all what I have said at the commemoration at the
G.T.T.I, which I did and I was released in the afternoon. I was warned not
to disclose any of what had happened to me while being arrested and during
my detention. Tijan Bah told me, "we know where you live and to get rid of
you will be easy for us. We can pay or use taxi drivers to eliminate you
while riding on your bicycle and we will say it was an accident. Or we can
even pay your playmates to eliminate you. In fact we can do anything it
takes to get you finished. For your safety, do not tell anybody, they said
or when they catch me they will kill me. He asked me to return the
followindg morning.

I did, by 8'o'clock I was there in his office. I was asked to wait, I sat
there till 2pm and later asked to go home till Friday. When I reported on
Friday, I was made to sit in Tijan's office until 12pm when I was again
asked to go home and come back the following Monday, which I did and by 2pm
I was again asked to go home and to come back another day. This is what I
have been subjected to ever since and I have now been asked to be reporting
after every four days, and everytime I reported, I received a different sort
of ill-treatment from Tijan Bah in his office.

On Tuesday 10th May I received a letter from the Permanent Secretary
Department of State for Education, Dr Saidou Jallow terminating my
sponsorship on the grounds that there are not enough funds with the
government to sponsor me.

On Tuesday 22nd May 2001, between 3 and 4 pm while coming from the Nusrat
High School library, I was stopped by four men who began to ask me about
Alhagie Nyabally and his whereabouts. I told them that he was in the
library. I was asked to describe the clothes he was wearing, and when I told
them, the two of them went inside the library while the other two asked me
to wait. When I refused, a scuffle began between us. During this scuffle two
others entered the school premises at about the same time that the two who
went to the library came out, making six men altogether. When I attempted to
go away, they tried to stop me and in the process, I exchanged some blows
with them during which I sustained a knee dislocation. While I was
struggling to get away from them, the two of them were keeping guard just in
case someone was in sight. When all six of them decided to go outside the
compound to study the situation, two students came from the library to find
out what the noise was about.

One of the NIA men told them to get inside and within the blink of an eye
five of them had disappeared remaining one who was wearing a mask telling me
to keep calm. He said to me, "I am your friend once in the Gamsu leadership.
Where is your wife and mother?" I told him that I have no wife and that my
parents were back in our village. When he asked me where our village was, I
replied that I would not tell him. At that juncture, I heard whistling from
one of his colleagues outside and he responded to the whistle then later
asked me to keep calm while he went out of the school campus.

However, while going out, he asked me, "where is Besenty Gomez, your
university president living?" I just insulted his mother and said to him,
"you are a savage, a parasite and a stooge". I followed him to the school
gate and saw them boarding a white pick up with lines on its sides facing
towards the Bundung mosque. I then shouted, "you hooligans", and I went back
to my house to relax with my pain.


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