http://af.reuters.com/articlePrint?articleId=AFJOE55A03L20090611
Gambia charges 16 with trying to destabilise country Thu Jun 11, 2009 6:48am
GMT

BANJUL (Reuters) - Authorities in Gambia have charged 16 people under
anti-terrorism laws for trying to destabilise the former British colony, a
nation regularly accused of using arbitrary detention to gag political
opponents.

The 16 Gambians were charged at Brikama Magistrates' Court, 32 km (20 miles)
west of the capital Banjul, with "jointly conducting or engaging themselves
in an unlawful act which could have seriously destabilised" the country in
August 2006.

The charges, to which the men have pleaded not guilty, gave no further
details.

President Yahya Jammeh has ruled mainland Africa's smallest country since
seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1994.

Human rights organisations and press freedom watchdogs accuse his security
forces of using arbitrary detention and other abuses of power to restrict
freedom of expression and stifle political opposition.

Earlier this year, the authorities arrested leading opposition figure Halifa
Sallah and detained him for more than 10 days. He was released after Amnesty
International said he was at risk of being tortured in jail.

Last December a British missionary couple were sentenced to a year in prison
with hard labour for defaming Jammeh, a former wrestler with a penchant for
exotic birds who believes he has herbal treatments that can cure AIDS.

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