Independent Reporter Suffers Soldier Brutality
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The Independent (Banjul)
July 16, 2001
Posted to the web July 16, 2001
Banjul, the Gambia
Omar Bah, The Independent court reporter, assigned to cover on-going court
martial proceedings of Lt. Landing Sanneh at the Yundum Army Barracks, was
severely beaten by a group of soldiers at the barracks on Thursday.
Mr. Bah said he was brutally assaulted and subjected to torture by some
soldiers allegedly led by one Lance Corporal Fullo Jallow.
Below is his narration of the incident;
"On July 6 when court martial proceedings began at the Yundum Barracks
against Landing Sanneh formerly the State Guard Commander at State House, I
was assigned to cover the treason trial. When I arrived there, I met the
same Lance Corporal Fullo Jallow who after identifying myself ordered me to
leave the camp with immediate effect because he said journalists were not
allowed to cover the proceedings. I then decided to leave without any
arguments.
"However, when Major Sang Pierre Mendy the officer coordinating the court
martial proceedings learnt about me being asked to leave the camp, he
telephoned my editors to apologize, saying it was a mistake and that the
proceedings were open to the press as they had nothing to hide. He then told
my editors that I should always go back there to cover the proceedings.
"Therefore, when last Thursday July 12 I went back to the barracks, it was
as if nothing like that ever happened. I reported to the Military Police
Unit where I identified myself and asked for Major Mendy. I was allowed to
proceed but before I reached the place where the court proceedings were
taking place, Lance Corporal Jallow asked me to come back to the MP Unit. He
immediately hauled all manner of verbal insults at me for 'following' them.
He said I would not see Major Mendy and should immediately leave the camp.
He told me that he did not even want to see me sitting outside under the
trees. He demanded that I leave the whole vicinity altogether.
"You came here last week and I told you that journalists are not allowed
here and you are still following us. All that I have to tell you is to leave
this place immediately or I will kick your ass," he told me bluntly.
"However, I asked him to contact Major Mendy before asking me out because
Mendy had told me that journalists were allowed to cover the proceedings.
All hell broke loose. Lance Corporal Jallow stepped towards me and gripped
my shirt and began to push me out of the camp. As we reached the road, I
asked him to let go of me since I was no longer in the camp. He seemed to
have been infuriated by my protest and he began to beat me. Another soldier
soon joined him, suggesting that I should be locked in a cell.
From there they took me to a small room inside the barracks where three
other soldiers joined them in beating me. My face received several hard
jabs, while their boots kicked me on my legs and other parts of my body.
"You better fucking put your ass down. Today we are going to kill you here,"
one of them said menacingly. Slaps and kicks were accompanied by the foulest
of verbal insults and threats at me. It was one Sergeant Bailo Khan who
rescued me from the beatings. He took me to his office and told me that such
things would never happen again. He said it was the junior officers who
would behave that way to me. He promised to take up the matter.
"When Major Mendy and Lt. Musa Savage the officer commanding MP Unit, became
aware of the incident they called Lance Corporal Fullo Jallow and told him
that he was acting without any command. As he (Fullo) tried to explain Major
Mendy told him to shut up. Fullo was told that he was wrong because he had
already been informed that journalists should be allowed to cover the court
proceedings. "What you did was very wrong. Nobody told you that you should
beat civilians," he was reminded.
"Ousman Sillah the lawyer representing Lt. Landing Sanneh also intervened
and condemned the act as very wrong. He confirmed that Major Mendy told the
officers at the MP Unit that reporters should be allowed to cover the court
proceedings. "It is crazy. I don't know why they are behaving like this," he
added.
"Major Mendy then told me to go and cover the proceedings and report
anything I saw there. However the court proceedings were adjourned due to
the absence of the next prosecution witness Captain Ousman Sonko who is
presently in Sierra Leone on a peacekeeping mission. The DPP Chief Akamoye
Agim promised the court that the witness would be available on the next
sitting on Thursday July 19."
Captain Ousman Sonko like Lt. Sanneh was also charged with treason but his
charges were later dropped. He was instead made a prosecution witness.
Meanwhile, the president of the Gambia Press Union Demba Jawo in his
reaction to the assault said it was yet another attack on press freedom. "It
is very disappointing that despite assurances from a senior officer at the
Barracks that it was alright for journalists to cover the court martial,
they still went ahead to brutalize an innocent journalist. This type of a
situation is definitely not acceptable in a civilized nation like The
Gambia," he remarked. He went on to call on the Army Chief of Staff to take
appropriate action against those junior officers, who maltreated a
journalist for no justifiable reason, "otherwise it would look as if they
are condoning such brutalities against civilians and that they also have
something to hide with regards to the court martial".
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