Jammeh's Assault on Freedom of Religion in the Calipha Muhideen Hydara case
The Caliph Muhideen Hydara and the Alkalo of Darsilame Sangharjor, Buyah Touray have been arraigned before the Magistrate Court presided over by Seranding Sanneh, charged with 'Disobedience to a Lawful Command', in that on they were lawfully ordered by the President of the republic of The Gambia to not pray Idl Fitr on Tuesday the 29 July 2014 as they happened to reside between Kalagie and Banjul, and not beyond Kalagie. This order was given in a television broadcast whenthe Banjul Elders and other Muslim leaders came to the State House to meet with the president, which meeting was broadcast live. S25(1)(c) of the 1997 Constitution guarantees a right to religion and right to practice that religion. So did the International Convention on the Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Article 18(3): Freedom to manifest one’s religion or beliefs may be subject only to such limitations as are prescribed by law and are necessary to protect public safety, order, health, or morals or the fundamental rights and freedoms of others.Furthermore as forwarded by the learned senior counsel Antouman Gaye, the president has no power to legislate on his own, certainly not by television broadcast, as envisaged under s7 of the 1997 Constitution and certainly contrary to s25(1) of the same constitution. The counsellor then submitted to the magistrate to refer the matter to the supreme court, as the competent authority to adjudicate on this matter. The matter was to be decided on Monday 01 September 2014.This submission was made under s127 of the constitution, which gave the Supreme Court exclusive rights to interpret the constitution except under provisions relating to the fundamental rights and freedom, especially on issues on purported law making rights, such as those assume erroneously by the head of state.
Read more here:
http://gambiadaily.co.uk/14-caliph-muhideen-hydara-case
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 14:43:11 -0400
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Subject: Ebola response 'lethally inadequate '
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Ebola response 'lethally inadequate'Last updated 3 hours agoBy James GallagherHealth editor, BBC News websiteNurses helping man with EbolaA global military intervention is needed to curb the largest ever Ebola outbreak, according to the medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.In a damning criticism of world leaders, it says the global response has so far been "lethally inadequate".The charity said countries were turning their back on West Africa and merely reducing the risk of Ebola arriving on their shores.More than 1,550 people have died in the outbreak which started in Guinea.At least 3,000 people have been infected with the virus, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that more than 20,000 people are likely to be infected.'Coalition of inaction'In a speech to the United Nations, the international president of MSF, Dr Joanne Liu, said repeated calls for help had been ignored.She said: "Six months into the worst Ebola epidemic in history, the world is losing the battle to contain it."Leaders are failing to come to grips with this transnational threat."The WHO announcement on August 8 that the epidemic constituted a 'public health emergency of international concern' has not led to decisive action, and states have essentially joined a global coalition of inaction."MSF said military and civilian teams capable of dealing with a biological disaster were needed immediately as the spread of Ebola "will not be prevented without a massive deployment".It is calling for more field hospitals with isolation wards to be set up, trained healthcare workers to be sent to the region and air support to move patients and medics across West Africa.Dr Liu added: "States with the required capacity have a political and humanitarian responsibility to come forward and offer a desperately needed, concrete response to the disaster unfolding in front of the world's eyes."Rather than limit their response to the potential arrival of an infected patient in their countries, they should take the unique opportunity to actually save lives where immediately needed, in West Africa."The charity said that at one site in Monrovia, in Liberia, it had been able to set up an isolation facility with 160 beds, but said they were "overwhelmed" with growing queues and needed an additional 800 beds.In other developments:• 31 people have now died from a separate Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, says the World Health Organization (WHO)• The UN's Food and Agriculture Organization has warned outbreak is putting food harvests in West Africa "at serious risk".• Nurses in Liberia's largest hospital are on strike, refusing to return to work until they are issued with protective equipment• After a Guinean student with Ebola escaped from a clinic in his homeland and took Ebola to Dakar, Senegal's president said if the student were not sick "he would be before the courts"• Ivory Coast's government allows Sierra Leone's football team to play an Africa Nations Cup qualifier in Abidjan despite the travel ban imposed over the Ebola outbreakThe MSF criticism echoes earlier remarks from the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim.In a newspaper column he said the outbreak would have been easily contained if it had hit a major Western city.He said the crisis in West Africa was down to a "disastrously inadequate response" from countries with the resources to help."We need international organisations and wealthy countries that possess the required resources and knowledge to step forward and partner with West African governments to mount a serious, co-ordinated response," he said.Also speaking the the United Nations, the director-general of the World Health Organisation Dr Margaret Chan said: "Ebola has become a global threat which requires urgent global efforts in solidarity with the affected countries."The outbreak will get worse before it gets better and it requires a well-coordinated big surge and huge scale-up of outbreak response urgently."Ebola virus disease (EVD)• Symptoms include high fever, bleeding and central nervous system damage• Spread by body fluids, such as blood and saliva• Fatality rate can reach 90% - but current outbreak has mortality rate of about 55%• Incubation period is two to 21 days• There is no vaccine or cure
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