Yus

Thanks for the info. From my observation, it appears
you have forwarded us the US STATE REPORT 2000 which
was published on 23 February 2001. Perhaps, it would
be best if we await the 2001 REPORT scheduled to be on
line on or before the 1st March 2002.

Once again a big thank you

Sanusi Owens



 --- Y C Jow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > Section culled
from the State Dept's 200o report.
> Enjoy!
>
>
> Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person,
> Including Freedom From:
>
> a. Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing
> There were no reports of politically motivated
> killings; however, on
> occasion, security forces committed extrajudicial
> killings.
>
> On March 9, Ebrima Barry, a student, died after
> being taken into custody and
> reportedly beaten by fire department personnel.
> Security forces killed at
> least 14 persons  during student riots on April 10
> and 11 to protest the
> death of the student (see Section 2.b.).  Security
> forces shot and killed
> Omar Barrow, a journalist and Red Cross volunteer,
> while he was working at
> the Red Cross facility to assist wounded
> demonstrators.  Despite the
> Government's initial insistence that security forces
> did not use live
> ammunition to suppress the riot, student victims and
> other witnesses alleged
> otherwise.  A government commission of inquiry
> reportedly concluded that the
> Police Intervention Unit (PIU) officers were
> "largely responsible" for many
> of the deaths and other injuries.  The inquiry also
> revealed that five
> soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Battalion were
> responsible for the deaths of two
> students at Brikama.  The Government stated that the
> report implicated
> several PIU officers in the students' deaths and
> injuries.  The official
> coroner's report and commission of inquiry report
> were not publicized widely
> by the Government.  Three police officers at Brikama
> were found to have
> unlawfully searched, arrested, and detained people
> there.  At year's end, no
> action had been taken against those responsible for
> the shootings (see
> Section 1.d.).
> On January 15, soldiers shot and killed two military
> personnel whom they were
> trying to arrest for allegedly attempting to
> overthrow the Government (see
> Section 1.d.).
> In January 1999, rebels allegedly belonging to the
> Movement of Democratic
> Forces for the Casamance (MFDC) in Senegal crossed
> the border and attacked
> the village of Gambissara, killing two persons.  On
> January 16, police
> arrested three alleged members of the MFDC; however,
> at year's end, the
> Government had taken no further action in the case.
> b. Disappearance
> There were no reports of politically motivated
> disappearances.
> c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
> Treatment or Punishment
> The Constitution forbids torture or inhuman or
> degrading punishment; however,
> security forces sometimes beat or otherwise
> mistreated detainees and
> prisoners.  There also were reports that security
> forces beat military and
> security detainees, and that security prisoners
> sometimes are threatened with
> summary execution.
> Security forces beat several dozen persons including
> school children during
> the April 10 and 11 student demonstrations (see
> Sections 1.a., 1.d., and
> 2.a.).  Many detained students claimed that armed
> soldiers beat them with gun
> butts and iron cables.  One student detained at the
> army barracks claimed
> that he and other students were abused and harassed
> while in detention.
> Credible witnesses reported seeing elementary-school
> age children released
> from custody with severe bruises, bleeding cuts, and
> shaved heads, and
> stripped of their clothes.  Other witnesses reported
> that a mother,
> attempting to see her child at the Kairaba police
> station, was beaten
> severely with a rifle butt.  The students were
> protesting the death of a
> student on March 9 while in custody of fire
> department personnel and the
> alleged early April rape of a girl by an
> unidentified man in uniform, whom
> many believed to be a member of the Government's
> security forces.
> On January 15, Ousman Ceesay, a freelance reporter,
> claimed to have suffered
> rough treatment and threats by soldiers in Banjul
> for interviewing a soldier
> at the site of an exchange of gunfire between
> soldiers and units of the State
> House Guards.
> In May a journalist from the Democratic Republic of
> the Congo (DRC) reported
> that he was arrested, detained, beaten, and denied
> medical treatment by
> immigration authorities (see Section 1.d.).
> Armed soldiers at times harassed and detained
> citizens and foreigners at
> gunpoint, particularly at the Denton Bridge
> checkpoint outside of Banjul (see
> Section 2.d.).
> No action was taken in the 1999 case when police
> allegedly severely beat and
> tortured an opposition politician who was arrested
> and detained for 2 days.
> There were no developments in the promised
> investigation of the detention and
> torture of eight UDP officials in 1997.  At the time
> of the incident, the
> Government promised a full investigation and
> appropriate action by the
> Attorney General.  Since the incident, police
> investigators have interviewed
> some witnesses, but some victims have said that they
> have not been contacted.
>  No one has been arrested, and no results of the
> investigation have been made
> public.
> Conditions at Mile 2, Janjanbureh, and Jeshwang
> prisons remained very poor.
> Mile 2 prison was reported to be grim, overcrowded,
> and lacking in medical
> facilities.  Prisoners were locked in their cells
> for over 20 hours each day.
>  There were credible reports of beatings,
> malnourishment, and other harsh
> treatment of political, military, and security
> detainees.  Women are housed
> separately; juveniles are housed with adults.
> Conditions in one representative local jail
> reportedly were unsanitary and
> overcrowded.  Inmates slept on cement benches or on
> the floor without
> blankets.  There was one water tap in the cell area
> but often no water.
> Police are reluctant to terminate fistfights between
> prisoners until the
> dispute is settled, and many of the prisoners are
> injured.
> Local nongovernmental organizations (NGO's)
> generally are permitted to visit
> prisons upon request.  A member of the African
> Commission on Human and
> Peoples' Rights and the U.N. Special Rapporteur on
> Prisons and Conditions of
> Detention in Africa visited the three prisons during
> the year.  The
> International Committee of the Red Cross visited
> local prisons several times
> during the year.
> d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
> The Constitution includes provisions to protect
> against arbitrary arrest and
> detention; however, on occasion, security forces
> arbitrarily arrested and
> detained citizens.  Periods of detention ranged from
> a few hours to several
> days.
> The Government has not revoked formally military
> decrees enacted prior to the
> current Constitution that give the NIA and the
> Secretary of State for
> Interior broad power to detain individuals
> indefinitely without charge if "in
> the interest of national security."  The
> Constitution provides that decrees
> remain in effect unless inconsistent with
> constitutional provisions.  These
> detention decrees appear to be inconsistent with the
> Constitution, but they
> have not yet been subject to judicial challenge.
> The Government has stated
> that it no longer enforces these decrees; however,
> in some instances, the
> Government did not respect the constitutional
> requirement that detainees be
> brought before a court within 72 hours.
> In January military officials arrested and detained
> Lieutenant Landing Sanneh
> and at least 10 other military personnel accused of
> attempting to overthrow
>
=== message truncated ===

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