Mboge, I am inspired by your courage in the face of adversity. You could have cower and seek mercy... the norm in our country; but you came out with the truth blazing. I can only imagine how difficult this decision weighed on you, considering that your sister is illegally detain by morons. For what it is worth, you have a lot of people rooting for your sister and Dr. Touray. We stand in solidarity with them against the tyranny that had them in his clutch. Someone once say that a nation deserve it's leaders. This is certainly true of the Gambia. We have a cynical, cowered populace that is aiding and abating Yahya in infringing upon the rights of their country men/women. Victims of these assaults and their families usually retreat into solitude, because the larger population don't care. That is why the action you took while your love one is still in harms way is so inspiring. It bucks the trend that everyone will just cower to seek relief for a love one whose rights are been infringed upon. It is your sister today, it could be my cousin tomorrow. An injustice is visited upon your sister and her colleague. I stand in solidarity with my country men of good conscience, who are condemning the detention of these two ladies and every other political prisoner forthwith. Needless to say, they should be release NOW, to continue on their work. Sent from my iPhone On Oct 12, 2010, at 5:12 PM, Modou Mboge <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > The shameful arrest and detention of Amie Bojang-Sissoho and Dr Isatou Touray. Standing in solidarity in the struggle for Good over Evil. > > Few months ago, I was profoundly dismayed by an essay penned by Rtd Colonel Samsudeen Sarr published on the online news outlet- The Gambiaecho captioned “A Quest for SABARRY”. What I gathered then from Sarr was that Gambians should just accept the abuses and excesses of the Mad Buffoon Mr Yahya Jammeh and beg for mercy in order that peace will prevail. > > I asked then for utter and complete rejection of such a call. I instead urged for the amplification of the fight against the Tyranny and Terrorism of the Buffoon Yahya Jammeh. Today I reiterate this call with extra amplified volume due to the harassment of the GAMCOTRAP Executive Director and Programme Coordinator. I am angered by the arrest and charging of Amie Bojang-Sissoho whom I happen to share the same mother and Dr Isatou Touray. I believe this action by the criminal regime is to silence these formidable human beings and to tarnish their integrity. I am in solidarity with these ladies just as I have been with others who were incarcerated for some hidden motives known only to their accusers. Of course it hurts when you are told that your sister is being persecuted based on fictitious charges. > > I put it on that occasion to Sarr that dictators must be confronted with resistance not smooching and begging them for their bountiful mercy. For those who profess to be Muslims, confronting dictators and wicked rulers is required of all believers to uphold the “ Qur’anic vision of individual dignity, personal liberty and freedom from arbitrary coercion” (Sachedina 2009). Demanding ones human rights to live a dignified and honourable life is a legitimate struggle against evil as aptly put by Christof Heyns in his thesis: A “Struggle Approach” to Human Rights (2001). > > Hyens writes that “Human rights are not about asking favours and they are not merely moral or rhetorical concepts; they are guides to action and triggers of resistance against what is perceived as the illegitimate use of power, in particular state power” (2001, 171). It is no brainer to charge that the abuse of state power has been given new meaning and taken to new heights under the dastard regime of Yahya Jammeh. What obtains in the Gambia is maddeningly disturbing and should worry every citizen and friend. > > Thus I call upon my family as I urged the families’ of the six journalists never to succumb to the terror of a dictator by asking for mercy. Doing so will only enhance and prolong the suffering of you and your community as a whole. It is also against what God, the Almighty ask of his followers. In all religions it is imperative for followers to resist any authority that oppresses the Creator’s children. Dissenting and resisting such authority is a Godly and noble endeavor. > > I further call on to my family both immediate and extended not to despair. What these ladies are being forced to go through is by any measure disgusting and despicable. All must condemn it. Notwithstanding, I hope and pray whatever condition my sister Amie Bojang-Sissoho and Dr Isatou Touray faces in those confined and horrible prison walls of Mile 2, that it will reinvigorate their faith in Allah and inspire their convictions to pursue with greater determination and zeal, the good job they have been doing for more than two decades. > > Amie and Dr Touray should be rest assured that their plight in as much as it is trying, painful, hard is a test to their resolve and belief in the Almighty. I hope they are inspired by the great people who were incarcerated by oppressors to break them but never succumbed to such cowardly tyrannies. > > Amie Bojang-Sissoho remember you are the child of a great scholar and forthright human being, Alagi Hatab Bojang (May his Soul Rest in Peace). Your dad was also harassed by the former regime but they miserably failed to break his convictions. Your mother Olimata Sarr (R.I.P) was a fighter to the end. She never tolerated bullies or accepted any who tried to usurp her human dignity. > > I had to write this for my own sanity. I know many in my family are scared to death at this very moment evidenced by the several calls trying to preempt me not to write anything which may anger the regime or jeopardize Amie’s situation. Well, I am sorry, I believe it doesn’t matter what I write against the criminal Yahya Jammeh and his cabal, because being a sick and cowardly dictator this buffoon is devoid of conscience or feeling for any he feels threatens his delusions of grandeur. > > The late Dr Lenrie Peters admonished “that Gambians must wake up from their slumber and reassess the realities of their situation; that their consciences shall demand ‘no crimes with impunity’ until this spreading epidemic of violence and savagery is flayed from our midst. […] Gambians must never allow this monstrous anarchy of evil to bestride the landscape.” > > I apologise to my family but I am convinced that my conscience is clear in demanding the flaying of the ‘epidemic of violence and savagery’ which is already residing in the Gambian landscape. > > Keep strong my beloved sister Amie Bojang-Sissoho and Dr Isatou Touray. All peace loving and God-fearing Gambians are proud of you. You are great citizens worthy of emulation. You manifest goodness whilst Mr Yahya Jammeh is evil reincarnate. > > Truth shall prevail. Gambians shall overcome the present evil. > > References: > > Heyns, C. (2001), ‘A “Struggle Approach” to Human Rights’. In Soeteman, A. (ed.) Pluralism and Law. Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers. > Sachedina, Abdulaziz (2009) Islam and the Challenge of Human Rights. Oxford University Press. [Chapter 5: “Individual and Society: Claims and Responsibilities”] > > Momodou Olly Mboge > Oslo, Norway > > > > > > > > > > ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html > To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤ To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface at: http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html To Search in the Gambia-L archives, go to: http://listserv.icors.org/SCRIPTS/WA-ICORS.EXE?S1=gambia-l To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to: [log in to unmask] ¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤¤