Amnesty Report Makes 'Damning Indictment' of Government
The Independent (Banjul)
NEWS
June 24, 2002
Posted to the web June 25, 2002
Banjul
The Gambia's human rights situation remains a 'damning indictment' of the
APRC government, which is claiming a complete return to democracy and the
rule of law following last October's presidential poll according to Amnesty
International in its recently released Annual Country Report on Hu man
Rights Practices here.
Amnesty International, which still holds that the country's human rights
never remarkably improved over the past twelve months renewed its
criticisms of the APRC government, saying the continuing spate of arbitrary
arrests, detention and brutalities allegedly committed by soldiers is
giving rise to more genuine concern over the safety, security and welfare
of citizens despite the return to democracy.
The AI report listed a number of human rights violations, which it said
were left unchecked and unresolved in 2001, leading to a hostile political
environment that denied democratic freedoms to individuals deemed to be
opponents of Yahya Jammeh's administration.
It said that the human rights situation is the most damning indictment of a
regime claiming complete restoration of democracy and the rule of law.
According to the report, members of the security forces committed serious
abuses against unarmed civilians, which in most cases were not prosecuted,
or their perpetrators punished. It listed a number of arbitrary arrests,
torture and detention without charge of journalists of the private
independent media, opposition sympathizers and rights defenders over the
stipulated 72-hour period. It also highlighted what it called the
government's failure or reluctance to conduct investigations into the
circumstances surrounding those abuses.
Among those abuses listed are the arrest, torture and detention
incommunicado of Dodou Kassa Jatta a member of the UDP youth wing by the
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in April for two weeks, the arrest and
torture of Alhagie Mbye a former reporter with The Independent in August
and November for nine days without charge by the NIA and the arrest and
incommunicado detention for five days of Mohammed Lamin Sillah Amnesty
International Gambian Branch's secretary General.
It also chronicled the mass arrest by the NIA and the police in October of
over 40 opposition sympathisers following the presidential elections and
the beating in July of The Independent court reporter Omar Bah by soldiers
at the Yundum Army Barracks as he tried to attend the court martial hearing
of Lt Landing Sanneh.
The Amnesty International report also catalogued a number of prolonged
detentions at the Mile Two Prisons of suspected coup plotters some of whom
includes four out of the five members of the Army extradited from Senegal
in 1997 to face charges in connection with an attack on the Kartong
military post in July 1997, Lt Landing Sanneh from January 2000 to
September 2001 after being accused of plotting to stage a palace coup. It
also pointed out the continuous detention since June 2000 of Dumo Sarho, Lt
Lalo Jaiteh, Lt Omar Darboe, Momodou Marena, and Baboucarr Yarboe who were
also accused of planning to overthrow the APRC government.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
