Breaking News: Momodou Jallow Dies, Allegations of Torture Linger

By Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-In-Chief

It is with profound shock and sorrow that we report the death of Momodou Jallow (a.k.a Ndotch) who reportedly died yesterday after a long illness. Jallow, 47, was a Gambia Government driver at the Department of Medical and Health Services who gained notoriety after his fierce criticism of the Jammeh dictatorship in numerous political rallies in the prelude to the 2001 presidential and parliamentary elections. His withering criticism of the regime reached fever pitch after his colleague, Ousman Ceesay also a driver; was gunned down by a presidential guard officer at the Tallinding Market during a melee between opposition UDP supporters and the regime’s militants.

            In the weeks that followed, Ndotch as he was affectionately called, was arrested and detained incommunicado at Kombo Station and the NIA headquarters where he was allegedly subjected to what eyewitnesses described as degrading conditions. He was tortured and in some instances, subjected to 48-hours of monkey dance; a cruel and inhuman treatment that some Gambian schoolteachers practice today. It is a humiliating treatment in which the victim is asked to hold the right ear with the left hand and the right hand to the left ear. With both ears firmly gripped, the victim begins this cruel exercise where he mimics a dancing monkey. According to family sources and friends, Ndotch monkey danced for two days and anytime that he stopped, he was pummeled and hit with riffle butts. He finally vomited blood; fell to the ground crying for help. After his release, Jallow was paralysed and wheelchair bound for over a year before he could regain his strength. Before he finally succumbed to death, he had developed high fever and the doctors diagnosed malaria only to realize in the last days, that he had blood complications stemming from torture he allegedly suffered in the hands of Yahya Jammeh’s predacious NIA.