THANK GOD MR. JOOF IS ALIVE! Astrid/ From The Daily Observer Published Friday, 12 May, 2000 OMAR JOOF'S WHEREABOUTS CONFIRMED Following the violent student-police clashes of April 10 and 11 in which 12 young people, including students, died, members of the Gambia Students Union (Gamsu) were arrested. When the student leaders were released a fortnight later, the president of Gamsu,Omar Joof, was not among them. That prompted speculation about his whereabouts. Theories were spun, among which was that he was tortured in detention and died. His family denied knowledge of his whereabouts since the day of the student demonstration. However, in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Observer, Emmanuel Joof of the African Society of International and Comparative Law, has confirmed the whereabouts of Omar Joof. "Omar is with a human rights organisation in Dakar, Raddho, and he is being taken care of by them. He left the country after the events of April 10 and 11. In fact, he is traumatised," Mr Joof said. Mr Joof, a human rights lawyer, said he has been in constant contact with Raddho on Omar's welfare. "The reason why Omar has not been in touch with his family is that he fears they might be intimidated." Asked whether the Gamsu president is planning to return home, Emmanuel Joof explained that Omar might be arrested "just as some of his colleagues in the union or even tortured. However, I have intimated Raddho that Omar should come back because a recent court decision gave directions to the attorney general, the inspector general of police and his agents, not to interfere with, or in any way fetter the liberty of Gamsu leaders, including Omar Joof, for the events that took place on April 10 and 11," Emmanuel Joof said. Mr Joof, who was among the team of lawyers who acted for the release of the detained student leaders, said, "Omar is encouraged to contact the team of lawyers as and when he wants to come back home so that his passage would be safe-guarded. We went to court and asked for the release of about 20 students before Justice Mam Yassin Sey. Even though some of the detained students have been released, some are still unaccounted for. But it has been learnt that some of them allegedly listed as detained may have fled the country such as Omar Joof. Therefore, I am appealing to family members to furnish us with information concerning the whereabouts of the others." On the coroner's inquest, Emmanuel Joof said, "I find it very revealing. Human rights organisations and the international community are all watching to see what the final reports of the coroner will be. As for the independent commission, its setting up is welcomed because it was one of the things that was suggested by the Human Rights Coalition. And this buttressed the point which the UN secretary general, Kofi Annan, made during his maiden visit to The Gambia; that not only should the rule of law be upheld, but those responsible for the shooting should be prosecuted. The whole world is really watching with great interest the outcome of the commission's findings." ________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html ----------------------------------------------------------------------------