This is nothing but a sick and an elaborate tactic to intimidate the students and the Gambian public. It is no coincident that the government is talking about persecuting the students at the same time that a court ruling is being handed down, releasing the people that perpetrated the murder and torture of Ebrima Barry. The government knows that it is wrong to unleash these animals to the general public. In anticipation of an uproar from the students and the general public, they send Joseph Joof out to intimidate the students by threatening to jail the participants in the April 10 and 11, 2000 demonstrations. Joseph Joof knows that they do not have a case against these children. Even Pap Cheyassin Secka conceded that and went on record to pledge to the Gambian people that our illegal government is not going to go after the students. So, why this sudden change of heart? What changed the past few weeks? Joseph Joof became AG. He wants to impress his thuggish friends. How does he do that? He threatens our children with empty threats hoping that the faint hearted will just roll over. We refuse to play dead in the face of such tyranny. Joof et al might have been emasculated by an impotent like Yaya, but some of us still have our manhood intact. Joof can try all he can to impress his murderous friends, but he cannot succeed where Pap Cheyassin Secka failed. Joof cannot defend the indefensible. In case he was not following the case involving our children while he was in the private Bar, let me enlighten him a little about where we are in that case. Right after the demonstration, these children were unlawfully arrested by our callous government. They were kidnapped (illegally held against their will) by the murderers of our children and held beyond the constitutionally mandated 72 hours. Real lawyers (different from self-promoters like Joof) took the matter to court and asked for the students be released as mandated by the Constitution. What did AG chambers do when they were faced by legal luminaries like Ousman Sillah? Pap Cheyassin Secka and his green lawyers failed to file briefs and defend their illegal stance in court. Instead, they were asking for adjournments while our children languished in jail. Remember, all this time, the murderers of our children were roaming the streets of Banjul scot-free; and Secka was putting all his energies in jailing the students that were lucky enough not to have died from the massacre. Because AG chambers could not defend the indefensible, the Gambian judge that was handling the matter had no choice but to refuse the government's application for adjournment and release the children. What judge would not do that? Back in June, 2000 when this matter came up, we pointed out Secka's irrational claims that his office was being treated unfairly because they were denied the right to present their case. Secka brought forth some frivolous 'natural justice' arguments saying that they had a right to be heard. That argument was sickening to me at the time and is more nauseating now. What this despicable AG chambers is arguing for is for the courts to allow their feet-dragging while our children rot in jail. To add insult to injury, they cannot even argue that they have a strong case against the students. So, they want the courts to participate in the fraud of jailing our children while there is no prima facie case against the students. Sounds deja vu? This is the same ploy they hatched against Dumo et al. They want you to rot in jail while they pretend to be engaged in never-ending investigations. This is their modus operandi because they know that if they bring their evidence in the open, they will not succeed in getting convictions. This is the worst form of political persecution. Where is 'natural justice' here? What happened to speedy trials? What happened to confronting accused persons with real evidence? Joof knows that he cannot convict these children before Mam Yassin Sey's court. But there might be a blessing in disguise in this illogical move by the government. The government has shown that they cannot stick to their words. They have shown that they do not want to 'reconcile' with the Gambian people. But best of all, this is going to spell Joof's demise. If this matter goes to court and all preliminary issues are taken care of, real lawyers like Ousman Sillah will force the release of the report from the commission of inquiry. Joof will then be cornered to a position where he would have to justify why he would act on certain portions of the report he co-authored, and not on others. Joof will have to explain why Sankung Badjie, Baba Jobe, Sarjo Jallow, Baboucarr Jatta, Isatou Njie-Saidy and others are still holding prominent roles in the government he serves, while he is persecuting our children. In front of Ousman Sillah, Joof will not be able to admit certain portions of the report and leave others out. The contents of that report when looked at in light of the contempt with which Yaya treated our children, would disgust Gambians to the extent that the little support APRC has, would evaporate. We encourage Joof to be a man and come to court with what he got. Let him come and argue the 'substantive' case they have against the students and stop this nonsense of using extra-judicial methods to intimidate the children. The courts must not allow Yaya and Joof to hide behind procedural matters in order to kidnap our children pending the trial. Let Joof prepare his case and muster the courage to come in open court and not ask for endless adjournments. I can guarantee that like his predecessors, he will be routed by lawyers like Ousman Sillah, Antou Gaye and Emmanuel Joof. 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