Amnesty Int’l. Indicts Yahya Jammeh’s Rogue Regime

--2008 Report Says Gambia is Hell

Yahya Jammeh-Gambia's psychotic tyrant

London based human rights watchdog Amnesty International has added its voice to the dismal human rights record under Yahya Jammeh’s tyrannical regime in the mini-West African state of The Gambia, describing the atmosphere as a sate where fear rules. Below we begin the reproduction of the comprehensive report detailing the utterly despicable dictatorship and how it continues to summarily execute perceived political opponents, detain innocent citizens with impunity. It is a chronicle of DISASTER and the international community; the United States in particular, does not seem to give a damn. 

 INTRODUCTION

This report illustrates how human rights violations in Gambia are perpetrated by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), army and police against real and perceived opponents of the government on a routine basis. It demonstrates that once people are in the custody of the government, they are susceptible to a whole range of human rights violations including unlawful detention, torture while in detention, unfair trials, enforced disappearance and extrajudicial executions. This report documents human rights violations that have taken place following the March 2006 foiled coup attempt, when at least 63 perceived and real opponents were rounded up. The report also includes human rights violations that have taken place in the post coup period.

The report calls on the Gambian government: to incorporate international human rights law and standards into national law; to cease the use of torture in detention and extra-judicial executions; to release all those detained without charge and to protect the access of all Gambians to a free and impartial judicial system.

The information in this report was gathered during field visits to Gambia in October 2007 and September 2008. Continuous monitoring of events has taken place throughout the year. Due to the high risk of reprisals against those who have spoken to Amnesty International, many of the testimonies in this report are anonymous. Interviews with individuals were often conducted outside Gambia to ensure their safety. In a number of cases Amnesty International was not able to speak directly with those subjected to human rights violations. In October 2007, the Amnesty International researcher and campaigner and a Gambian journalist were arrested, detained and finally released unconditionally after six days without charge, on 14 October 2007.

Gambia, which lies on the west coast of Africa, is one of the smallest countries on the continent, stretching from east to west, and following the route of the river Gambia. This narrow strip of land, with a population of approximately 1.5 million, is surrounded by Senegal. Its main sources of income are tourism and the export of peanuts. 

Gambia became independent in 1965 and the first republic was ruled by Dawda Jawara until he lost power in 1994 in a military coup led by Lieutenant Yahya AJJ Jammeh as head of the Armed Forces Provisional Ruling Council (AFPRC). In July 1994 Yahya AJJ Jammeh declared himself head of state and banned all political parties and political activities. Elections were held in 1996 and Yahya AJJ Jammeh was voted in as president. After the 1994 coup, the provisions of the 1970 Constitution relating to executive and legislative powers, were suspended and the AFPRC ruled by military decree, declaring itself above legal challenge. The new government established a Constitution Review Commission to update the 1970 Constitution. The new Constitution was approved by referendum in August 1996 and became law in January 1997. Under this Constitution, which is still in effect today, the President is head of state, head of the government, and Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces. Presidents are elected every five years and there is no limit to the number of terms a President can run.  

The Gambian Constitution provides for a participatory democracy, the separation of powers and a National Assembly. Chapter IV of the Constitution provides for the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms including: the right to life, privacy and personal liberty; protection from slavery and forced labour; protection from torture and inhuman treatment; protection from deprivation of property; protection of the law and a fair trial; freedom of speech, conscience, assembly, association and movement; and protection from discrimination.

Gambia has ratified most major international human rights treaties, including: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and its First Optional Protocol; the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR); the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW); the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD); the Convention Against Torture, Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Conduct; and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

Gambia has also ratified the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (African Charter); the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention on Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems; and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights.

PART 1 HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS IN GAMBIA 

CHAPTER 1

UNLAWFUL ARREST AND UNLAWFUL DETENTION 

“People do whatever they can to avoid getting arrested because once you are arrested you are out of the protection of the law and are subject to all kinds of human rights violations from the police, the army, and the NIA.” --Human rights defender 

1. RULES AND REALITY

The 1997 Gambian Constitution Chapter IV Section 19, the ICCPR Article 9, and the African Charter Article 6 guarantee the right of everyone to liberty and security, and the right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. An individual may only be deprived of his or her liberty on grounds and according to procedures established by law. Only people authorized to enforce these procedures may carry out arrests, detentions or imprisonments. Under the law the police are under the control of the Secretary of State for the Interior and are responsible for public security. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is responsible for protecting state security, collecting intelligence, and conducting covert investigations, and reports directly to the President. Both the police and the NIA have the power of arrest and detention.¹ The Police are responsible for criminal and civil matters and the NIA is in charge of economic crimes and those that impact upon state security. The armies are responsible for external security and report to the Secretary of State for Defence. The army are not permitted to arrest and detain people.

In reality the NIA, the police and the army all unlawfully arrest and detain people in Gambia. The law requires that authorities obtain an arrest warrant before arresting a person, however, in practice, warrants, are hardly ever issued. In violation of the Gambian Constitution, detainees are rarely informed of their rights and/or the reason for their arrest or detention. Often people are denied access to a lawyer, and people are rarely charged within the 72 hours mandated by the Constitution.²

People are routinely unlawfully detained in official places of detention such as Mile 2 state central prison, NIA headquarters and police detention centres. Victims of prolonged detention without charge are often held alongside remand and convicted prisoners or those convicted of capital crimes, such as treason and murder, and housed in the maximum-security wing of Mile 2 prison. Other official places of detention include: Banjulinding a police training centre, and in the interior of the country, Jeshwang and Janjangbureh prisons. Others are held in secret and unlawful detention centres, which one human rights defender described, saying: “There are secret detention centres all over the place. People can be detained anywhere.” These include: military barracks such as Fort Bullen; secret quarters in police stations such as in Bundung; police stations in remote areas such as Sara Ngai and Fatoto; and warehouses such as in Kanilai.

2. MARCH 2006 FOILED COUP PLOT

In the 14 years that President Jammeh has been in power, six foiled coup attempts have been reported: in November 1994, January 1995, November 1996, July 1997, January 2000 and March 2006. Following alleged coup attempts, Amnesty International has observed a dramatic deterioration in the human rights situation and has documented serious human rights violations including unlawful arrests, unlawful detentions, torture while in detention, enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and unfair trials.

After the most recent coup attempt in March 2006, the Gambian authorities announced that a coup led by former Chief of Defence Staff, Colonel Ndure Cham, had been discovered and aborted. Three days later the President declared on national radio and television that “any attempt to unconstitutionally overthrow the government would be crushed without mercy” and that he would “set an example that would put an end to the treachery and sabotage.”³ Amnesty International estimates that, following this statement, at least 63 and possibly many more civilians and military people were arrested without a warrant and were not told of the reason of their arrest within three hours as mandated by the Gambian Constitution. The bulk of these arrests took place in March and April 2006.

Some of those targeted were arrested as suspected coup plotters, while others, according to human rights observers, “saw the mass arrest of people as fertile ground for the government to achieve its objective of cracking down on perceived enemies.” Some of the government’s perceived opponents included human rights defenders – among whom were two lawyers and six journalists, some of whom Amnesty International considered to be prisoners of conscience. Those suspected of being coup plotters were government officials, military and security forces including 13 government employees and their relatives or associates. Of these, at least five held positions in the Cabinet, and six were Members of Parliament from the President’s own party. At least four relatives of Ndure Cham, the ex-Chief of Defence accused of masterminding the coup plot, including his wife, were arrested. By the first week in April, 18 army officers and 10 security or ex-security agents were also arrested and held for varying periods.

The NIA, the army and the police arrested people in their homes, at their work and in the streets. In April 2006 Amnesty International was in contact with family members of those arrested who were reported to have been unlawfully detained and held incommunicado or in solitary confinement for weeks at a time, despite the requirement under Gambian law that they should be brought before a court within 72 hours of their arrest. They did not have access to a lawyer. Some of them are alleged to have been tortured and ill-treated while in detention and a number of them disappeared or were reportedly killed. 

In the end, 21 of the probable 63 – both civilians and military men – were charged with treason related crimes in May 2006. The 21 included 11 army personnel, five NIA officers, and five civilians, of whom four were members of the government. In the end, however only 15 cases went to trial. 

UNLAWFUL DETENTION, TORTURE AND DISAPPEARANCE OF SUSPECTED COUP PLOTTERS

The first series of arrests took place on 22 March 2006 when five men, including the then NIA Director, General Daba Marena, Lieutenant Ebou Lowe, 2nd Lieutenant Alieu Cessay, Regimental Sgt Major Alpha Bah and Staff Sgt Manlafi Corr, were arrested on suspicion of plotting a coup. Initially they were all taken to Mile 2 and held without charge, then, on 6 April 2006, according to government reports, these five men were being transferred to Janjanburu prison in the interior when a road accident occurred and all five men were said to have escaped. There has been no sign of the men since their alleged accident and Amnesty International fears that they have become victims of enforced disappearance or extrajudicially executed.⁴

Ten military personnel, including Capt Bunja Darboe, Capt Yahya Darboe, Wassa Camara, Lieut. Pharing Sanyang, Capt Abdou Karim Jah, Lieut Momodou Alieu Bah, Cpl Samba Bah, Babou Janha, Capt Pierre Mendy, and Pte Alhagie Nying and five civilians – Alieu Jobe, Tamsir Jassey, Omar Faal, Demba Dem and Hamadie Sowe – stayed in pre-trial detention for six weeks until they were formally charged on 10 May 2006. All 15 were charged with treason related crimes, including treason, conspiracy to commit treason, and concealment to commit treason, which are all capital and non-bailable offences. 

Five (former) NIA officers – Baba Saba Saho, Ngor Secka, former NIA Director Abdoulie Kujabi, Musa Dibba, Foday Barry, and one army officer, the late Colonel Vincent Jatta – were arrested in connection with the coup on 6 April 2006. Although these six men had initially been arresting coup suspects in late March, by early April 2006 they had themselves become suspects, and were arrested without a warrant and held incommunicado in detention. They all reportedly experienced torture while in detention. After more than one year in detention, charges were dropped and they were released on presidential pardon. Colonel Vincent Jatta died in January 2008, less than six months after his release.

Demba Dem, Member of Parliament originally arrested, charged, and was on trial for treason in connection with the March coup told Amnesty International:

I was arrested on 25 March 2006 at my job by members of the NIA. Initially I was brought to the NIA headquarters but did not stay there long and was brought immediately to the Mile 2 prison and put in the maximum-security cell. On the evening of 28 March at around midnight I was escorted by five armed men from the army to the NIA and brought in front of a panel of approximately 30 people, all of whom were from the military police, the NIA, the army and the police. I was asked by the head of the NIA, Musa Jammeh, who was leading the panel, what I knew about the coup plot. I told them that I did not know anything and in fact that I did not know any of the people they were saying were involved in the coup. After they finished questioning me I was brought to the back of the NIA headquarters, handcuffed and a plastic bag was put over my head and I was then beaten up by soldiers from the state house who are also known as the green boys or the drug boys. Even though I could not see them, I knew who they were and in fact they are still in the army today. After they finished beating me up I was brought back to Mile 2.

UNLAWFUL ARREST, DETENTION AND TORTURE OF PERCEIVED OPPONENTS OF THE GOVERNMENT

Human rights defenders, including lawyers and journalists, were also unlawfully arrested, detained and tortured in the wake of the coup. On 28 March 2006 the entire staff of The Independent was arrested and the newspaper was closed down. After several hours, all the staff were released, except for the managing editor, Madi Ceesay, and the editor-in-chief, Musa Saidykhan. Lamin Fatty, a reporter for the paper, was also arrested on 6 April and held for over two months until he was finally charged.⁵ Both Ceesay and Saidykhan were detained by the NIA, spent more than three weeks in police detention and were later brought to the NIA headquarters where they were held until their release on 22 April 2006. Both men told Amnesty International that they had been tortured while in detention. They were never charged. Saidykhan told Amnesty International about his unlawful arrest, detention and torture:

On 28 March 2006 the army, with heavy weapons, surrounded my house, and the police arrested me and whisked me into a waiting police Land Rover. I was told by the arresting officer that I was needed at the police station for questioning. The army’s presence created a state of fear in my neighbourhood, where a lot of people could be seen in tears. The arresting officer, Mr. Ceesay assured my ageing godmother that I would be

interrogated at Serekunda police station and would be back a few hours later. But that was far from the reality. I was driven to a mobile police unit at Kanifing where senior police chiefs kept me outside with a guard and held a meeting. They later asked [for] me only to inform me that the police chief ordered me to be held at the NIA headquarters in Banjul.

Later, two other coup suspects, Alieu Jobe and Tamsir Jasseh, were brought in the cells. And in the evening, I joined Madi Ceesay in one of the offices at the NIA before a green Mercedes Benz arrived to transfer us to Banjul police where officers on duty were asked to put us incommunicado. The Inspector General of Police said these people must be held incommunicado. In the Banjul police station both Ceesay and I shared a cell with 45 others, some of who had been detained without trial or charged for nine years.

A week later, senior police officers called us for a meeting upstairs, saying they were only asked to keep us but they did not know the reasons of our detention. We were returned to the NIA headquarters. Several days later, on 4 April, we were again interrogated by the agency’s internal director, Captain Lamin Saine, who promised to liaise with the President’s office about our case before drawing conclusions. He felt sympathetic and brought us soap and allowed us to have shower for the first time in several days. We were also given mats to sleep on.

Just as we thought we were in the clear, the torture squad from the President’s own office cut short our enjoyment. We were taken to a hideout where we were shackled and subjected to torture. The torture squad led by the President’s personal protection officer stripped me naked and administered electric shocks all over my body, including the genitals. I went unconscious for almost 30 minutes. 

During the course of their detention, the two editors tried to gain access to a lawyer. Due to the politically sensitive nature of the case and the overall environment of fear associated with defending those seen to be in opposition to the government, no lawyer was prepared to accept their case. Upon their release on 22 April 2006, Saidykhan was unable to obtain medical services he required as a result of the torture he received while in detention. No doctors would treat him for fear of the risk that they might be under for treating someone who needed medical treatment as a consequence of torture and ill treatment in detention. With no other options, and to escape further harassment, he left Gambia. 

Saidykhan could not take the case of his unlawful detention and torture forward in Gambia. In November 2007 the Media Foundation West Africa (MFWA) filed a lawsuit at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Community Court of Justice (CCJ)⁶ against the Gambian government, over the illegal detention and torture of Musa Saidykhan in March 2006. In the lawsuit there are claims that electric shocks were administered to his naked body, including his genitals, during his 22-day detention. A date is yet to be fixed for the hearing.

In 2005 Saidykhan attended the African Editors Forum in Johannesburg, where he gave a brief account of press freedom violations, including arbitrary arrests, detentions, deportations, kidnapping, arson attacks and the unsolved murder of Deyda Hydara, the

Prominent journalist who was shot dead in 2005. He made a specific appeal to the then President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki; to put pressure on the government to expedite the investigation into Hydara’s unsolved murder. Mbeki told Saidykhan he would engage the Gambian government on some of the issues.

When Saidykhan returned from South Africa in 2005, he was arrested by the NIA but was soon released. He believes that his release was due to pressure exerted on the Gambian government by President Mbeki. Also in 2005, the Gambian government lost the chairmanship of ECOWAS; Saidykhan said he believes that: “the government blames me for losing the chairmanship, yet actually it was due to the government’s poor human rights record.”

Saidykhan believes that, together with some of the unpopular stories written in The Independent and because of his reputation as an outspoken journalist, the government used the chaos of the coup to target him and other staff of the paper and close it down.

ONE STILL REMAINS IN DETENTION

Amnesty International is concerned that, after more than two years, one of the people arrested in connection with the March 2006 foiled coup remains in detention without charge. Alieu Lowe, former head of the government Treasury and nephew of the former Chief of Defence Staff, Ndure Cham, was arrested by the NIA in April 2006 at his residence in Fajijunda. After being in detention for several months without charge, the Attorney General approached Lowe and made a deal with him that if he served as a witness he would reportedly be released. He agreed to this. During the trial he testified about his own ill treatment and torture in custody and said that he witnessed others being tortured. His testimony was later expunged because the prosecution considered him to be a hostile witness. It seems that, due to his controversial testimony he has not been released from Mile 2, contrary to the agreement reached with the Attorney General. Amnesty International can confirm that Alieu Lowe was in Mile 2 at least six months ago based on the testimony of a former detainee who was there at that time. His family have not had access to him in prison and have not contracted the services of a lawyer.

3. UNLAWFUL ARRESTS AND DETENTIONS CONTINUE IN THE POST COUP PERIOD

Following the March 2006 alleged coup, unlawful arrests and detentions have continued to target journalists, civil servants, security personnel and other perceived opponents of the government. These include Ismaila Bajinka, formally with the NIA, and brother to former presidential bodyguard, Major Khalipha Bajinka, who was accused of being involved in the March 2006 coup plot and fled the country in July 2006 having received information that a warrant had been issued for his arrest. As a result of Khalipha’s flight, both Ismaila and Yahya Bajinka, another brother and also an NIA officer, were arrested in July 2006. Yahya was held incommunicado in detention for two weeks and then released without charge. Yahya was then arrested a year later on 7 April 2007 and held for over a year in secret detention. Ismaila’s arrest is reported to have been linked to him having helped his brother leave the country; he has been in detention since then and has neither been charged nor had access to a lawyer.

Others that Amnesty International has been closely monitoring include another NIA agent, Kebba Secka. He was arrested by plain-clothes officers in June 2007 and since then has been detained at the maximum-security wing at Mile 2. Reportedly he was arrested on suspicion of spying for Senegal. Family sources expressed dismay and concern over the long detention of Secka and said they were concerned about his health, noting that they do not know the reasons for his arrest and subsequent detention. The family said that Secka is yet to be charged and that he is incarcerated at Mile 2. 

Amnesty International is aware of many others who remain in detention without charge and calls on the government to release them or charge them with a recognizable crime.⁷

4. OTHER DETAINEES HELD IN MAXIMUM SECURITY CELL WITHOUT CHARGE

Amnesty International can also confirm that there are at least 19 others, both Gambian and other nationalities, including at least seven Senegalese and at least two Nigerians, who have been unlawfully detained without charge and are being held in maximum-security cell 5 at Mile 2 prison. The majorities were arrested in the last few years but some have been detained for more than 12 years without charge or trial.

Amnesty International is aware of Abdouramani Baldeh from Senegal who has been detained for at least 12 years; Abdoulie Sonko, a Gambian, who has been detained for nine years; Muhammed Gumaneh from Gambia, who has been detained for eight years; Buba Ceesay, a Gambian, who has been detained for seven years; Baba Galleh Jallow, Samba Doro Bah and Yorro Baldeh, all Gambians, who have been detained for six years; and several Nigerians, including Victor Acka, who has been detained for five years; Pa Samba, a Gambian has been detained for four years; Malick Bah, a Gambian has been detained for two years. 

There are at least seven Senegalese men and one Gambian who were arrested in connection with the Casamance armed opposition.⁸ These include: Ismaila Sambou, Siaka Sambou, Ebrima Badjie and Nuha Jammeh, who have been in detention since 2007. They were originally part of a group of 30 men including Alexandra Djibba, former spokesperson of the Movement of Democratic Forces in Casamance (MFDC) and a former ally of President Jammeh, who is being held without charge. Djibba’s arrest is linked to a disagreement he had with the President in 2007. In 2007 Djibba’s brother raised an alarm about the condition of his brother’s health, stating that his eyesight had deteriorated and that he was paralyzed. His brother suspected this was due to Djibba having been tortured while in detention. In addition, Dawda Jatta and Seedat Badjie, both from Senegal, were arrested in 2006 and have been detained for two years.

CHAPTER 2 ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCES

“If you are a threat to the government they just try and make you disappear.” --Human rights defender 

Amnesty International is aware of instances in which unlawful detention results in enforced disappearances. According to Article 2 of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance adopted in 2006:

An enforced disappearance takes place when a person is arrested, detained, abducted or subjected to any other form of deprivation of liberty by agents of the state or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the State, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty or by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, which place such a person outside the protection of the law.

Experience has shown that disappeared persons are often tortured and in constant fear for their lives, removed from the protection of the law, deprived of their rights and at the mercy of their captors. It is a continuing violation, which often persists for many years after the initial abduction. If the person is released, they may continue to suffer the consequences for the rest of their life. Many people who have disappeared are never released, and their fate remains unknown. Their families and friends may never discover what has happened to them. It is a violation of the disappeared person and of his or her relatives and friends who, not knowing the fate of their loved one, sometimes wait for years for news that may never come. 

1. ECOWAS COURT DEMANDS THAT THE GAMBIAN GOVERNMENT PRODUCE JOURNALIST

Journalists have also been at risk of becoming victims of enforced disappearance, including Chief Ebrima Manneh, a reporter at the government-owned Daily Observer, who has not been seen since he was arrested on 11 July by NIA agents at the newspaper’s offices. The case of the missing journalist was taken to the ECOWAS CCJ in June 2007 and, in a landmark decision, a year later in June 2008 the court ordered the Gambian government to release him from unlawful detention, dismissing the claim that Manneh was not in their custody.

It is believed that his arrest was in connection with him trying to print a BBC article that was critical of the Gambian government. On 21 February 2007, after pressure from lawyers and family members, the government published a press release denying any involvement in Manneh’s arrest and subsequent disappearance, and claiming that they had no knowledge of his whereabouts. However, in July 2007, he was seen at the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH) in the custody of Gambian police, and was reported to be receiving treatment for high blood pressure.

Due to the lack of progress on this case in Gambia, the Media Foundation of West Africa (MFWA) filed an application in the ECOWAS CCJ on 19 June 2007 on behalf of Chief Ebrima Manneh, summoning the government to answer charges over his disappearance. When the hearing started on 16 July 2007 in Abuja, Nigeria, the Gambian government was not represented, and the ruling was postponed until January 2008. In January 2008 the Gambian government again failed to appear, and the case was adjourned until 13 March 2008. In mid-March, although four Gambian state security agents and the Interior Minister were called to testify before the ECOWAS CCJ, again no one appeared. Judgement day was then set for 5 June 2008, and yet again the government failed to turn up. The court ordered the Gambian government to immediately release Chief Ebrima Manneh from unlawful detention without further delay and pay the sum of US$100,000 in damages. To date the Gambian government has not complied with the order.

Discussions with members of Manneh’s family revealed significant distress. His mother claimed she found it hard to enjoy anything because the fate of her son was constantly on her mind. The family also claimed that they felt increasingly isolated from the community because other people are afraid to associate with them. Their anguish was exacerbated by financial difficulties because the family was dependent on Manneh’s salary.

A discussion that Amnesty International held with the Solicitor General in September 2008 revealed that the government believed he had been abducted, as it had been claimed that nobody from the government had been involved in his disappearance. But, although the Solicitor General believed he had been abducted, the government had not initiated an investigation to find out who was responsible for his disappearance. Amnesty International also discussed the disappearance of Chief Ebrima Manneh with some National Assembly members, including the Speaker. Their belief was that he is in hiding and that journalists were behind his disappearance, in an attempt to discredit the government.⁹

Amnesty International unequivocally believes that Chief Ebrima Manneh is a victim of enforced disappearance based on information gathered from witnesses who testified at the ECOWAS CCJ. One witness, Ousman Darboe, told Amnesty International that he witnessed Manneh’s initial arrest in 2006 and had knowledge that Manneh was being held in various secret detention centres in Gambia.¹⁰ In light of this and the ruling at regional court, Amnesty International calls on the government to abide by the June ruling of the ECOWAS CCJ to produce Chief Ebrima Manneh and pay damages of US$100,000.

2. OPPOSITION SUPPORTERS AS VICTIMS OF ENFORCED DISAPPEARANCE

In Gambia, opposition politicians and their supporters, when perceived to gain too much power and threaten the status quo, can be at risk of becoming victims of enforced disappearance. Since the 2006 presidential elections Amnesty International has documented at least three people who have become victims of enforced disappearances. In October 2007 Ousman “Rambo” Jatta and Tamba Fofana, the two men previously considered victims of enforced disappearance, were released. Amnesty International remains concerned about Kanyiba Kanyie.

Tamba Fofana, Kanyiba Kanyie, Ousman “Rambo” Jatta, all United Democratic Party (UDP) supporters, the main opposition party to the government, were arrested on 13 September, 18 September and 25 September 2006 respectively. All these arrests are reported to have been linked to the men’s political activities and occurred around the period of the presidential election, which took place on 23 September 2006.

Tamba Fofana, a schoolteacher and UDP opposition supporter, was reportedly picked up by soldiers on 13 September and taken to the police on accusations of “anti-state” activities. Throughout his unlawful detention his family had no contact with him and the police denied knowledge of his whereabouts. He had been held in a secret detention center at the Fatoto police station for the majority of the time that he was in the custody of the government until his release on 13 October 2007. Fofana was never presented with an arrest warrant, told what he was being held for or actually charged. 

Jatta, a locally elected counsellor for Old Cape Ward in Bakau, was arrested at his office on 25 September by two plain-clothes policemen. He was forced to drive his own car to Bakau police station accompanied by the police. For over a year, Jatta was transferred to various secret detention centres and then spent the majority of the time in Sara Ngai police station until his release on 13 October 2007. While in detention, Jatta reported regularly being denied food and water. He suffered from malaria and was denied access to medical treatment. Until his release more than a year later, his family had not had any contact with him. It is reported that his enforced disappearance was connected with his popularity as an opposition politician and that he had reported irregularities in connection with the presidential election. Just three months earlier, in June 2006, Jatta was arrested and detained in Mile 2 for 13 days until he was charged with using abusive language and threatening the security of the state, reportedly because of a speech that he made at the African Union (AU) summit held in Gambia between 24-25 June 2006. His trial was ongoing when he disappeared on 23 September 2006. His family said that, prior to him being elected a local councilor in 2005, he had never had any problem with the police.

On 18 September Kanyiba Kanyie, an employee of the Christian Children’s Fund (CCF), an international non-governmental organization, was arrested by security agents in Faraba, at a APRC political rally where he was carrying out his work for CCF. While at the rally, he was arrested by local police. They took him to the local station and then to Banjul police station where he was questioned by the crime management coordinator. Since his arrest, he has reportedly been moved around to a number of small police stations. However now he is believed to be in Mile 2. It is alleged that his enforced disappearance is also linked to his popularity as an opposition politician. Since his arrest no family members have seen him and the government denies that he is in their custody.

On 17 October 2006, bail was paid for both Jatta and Kanyie, and the High Court ordered the state to release the two men unconditionally.¹¹ The government, through the Ministry of Justice’s office, denied that they were holding either of the men. Later that month, on 30 October 2006, the lawyers sent a letter to the Secretary of State of the Interior reminding him that their clients were still in detention. Again the NIA and the police denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the two men, despite sworn affidavits by people who had seen and heard the police and the NIA arrest them and take them away. On 5 June 2007 the lawyers submitted an application for a writ of habeas corpus¹² to demand that the state release these two men on the grounds that any person arrested or detained shall be informed as soon as is reasonably practicable and in any case within three hours of what they are being held for, as stipulated in the Constitution.¹³ The writ cites minutes of a meeting where the Secretary of State for Interior, Baboucarr Jatta, confirms ordering the arrest of both men. The court issued the writ of habeas corpus ordering the Inspector General of Police and the Attorney General in the matter of Ousman “Rambo” Jatta and the Director General of the NIA and the Attorney General in the matter of Kanyiba Kanyie, to produce the men at the court on 7 June 2007. The two respondents in each case were to provide the court with the reasons for the imprisonment and the continued detention. The government did not comply with the High Court’s request.

Jatta and Fofana were finally released on 14 October 2007 after two Amnesty International delegates saw Jatta at Sara Ngai police station where he was being held as a “state detainee”. In January 2008, several months after his release, Jatta gave a sworn affidavit regarding his unlawful detention, which had lasted for over a year. Today Kanyie remains in detention and is considered to be a victim of enforced disappearance.

Amnesty International believes there are at least five other cases of enforced disappearances.

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CHAPTER 3 TORTURE AND ILL-TREATMENT IN DETENTION 

“I would estimate that approximately 90 per cent of the people who are detained are subject to torture.”

Human rights defender

According to international law, prisoners or detainees are not to be subjected to any hardship or constraint other than that resulting from a deprivation of their liberty. However, in Gambia, torture or ill-treatment in detention are routinely carried out, in violation of the Gambian Constitution Chapter IV Article 21, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 7, the Convention against Torture Article 2 (2) and the African Charter Article 5. No one may be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. This right is of particular importance to people deprived of their liberty. The prohibition against torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment includes acts which cause mental as well as physical suffering to a victim. 

1. TORTURERS AND METHODS OF TORTURE WHILE IN DETENTION

Under international law, all agents of the state are prohibited from inflicting, instigating or tolerating torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment of any person. The fact that they have been ordered to do so by their superiors may not be used as a justification; in fact they are bound by international standards to disobey such orders and to report them. However in Gambia, special units within the NIA (sometimes known as green boys, ninjas or drug boys), as well as the President’s personal protection officers, who are under the direct control of the President, members of the army and, at times, the police, are alleged to have tortured detainees. In Gambia torture is used to obtain information, as punishment and to extract confessions that can be used as evidence in a court of law. 

According to Amnesty International’s sources, during interrogation, detainees have reportedly had their heads covered with plastic bags and their heads put under water for long periods, simulating suffocation. Others have been exposed to electric shocks, including shocks to the genitals, cigarette burns, stabbing with a knife, tying up with ropes and whipping with chains

and leather belts. Former detainee Demba Dem, on trial for treason and later acquitted, told Amnesty International:

I was there for over a year and half and because I was so badly beaten I left the cell often for treatment due to my poor health condition from all the torture. Throughout my detention I was electrocuted, cut with a knife, and constantly beaten. They always brought me to the NIA headquarters when they wanted to electrocute me – they did not do that in Mile 2.

Psychological torture has also been reported. Victims of torture told Amnesty International that they were threatened and shown photographs of mutilated bodies, or actually witnessed people being tortured or killed while being threatened that they would suffer the same fate. Some victims described having to dig their own graves with the understanding that they would be buried alive in them. Editor of The Independent Musa Saidykhan told Amnesty International:

During one of the torture sessions, they threatened to bury me alive in the area behind the NIA. They told me all other detainees accused of involvement in the coup had already been killed and buried long since. This later turned out to be a trick to extract information from me.

Principle 1 of The Principles of Medical Ethics¹⁵ states that health personnel must provide the same quality of protection and treatment for detained and imprisoned people as is afforded to those who are not in custody. Some doctors have refused to examine patients who have been tortured because of the potentially threatening situation they would find themselves in if they were subpoenaed to testify in a court of law. For example, during the treason trial described in Chapter 5, doctors refused to testify, despite appeals made by defendants’ lawyers. Amnesty International has found that doctors are particularly reluctant to testify in court cases against the government. Journalist Musa Saidykhan told Amnesty International about his experience:

Upon release, none of the private clinics I visited in Gambia would conduct a medical examination on me for fear of being reprimanded. One medical expert frankly advised me to go abroad and seek medical support because all health experts had taken a cue from their colleague who was close to being killed for confirming that an alleged coup detainee was tortured until he lost some teeth. The said doctor was threatened and forced to run for his life.

2. IMPACT ON VICTIMS

Journalists in Gambia and family members of victims regularly report to Amnesty International citing detainees who have been treated in the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH) in Banjul as a consequence of the torture and ill-treatment they received in detention. Those undergoing treatment are routinely kept under heavy military or security escort.

Abdoulie Kujabi, former director of the NIA, was originally arrested on 6 April 2006 in connection with the March 2006 foiled coup, along with four other former NIA members and the late Colonel Vincent Jatta. He reportedly suffered torture while in detention, including being burned with cigarettes and severely beaten. In April 2006 Kujabi was brought to RVTH in a critical physical condition. He reportedly lost an eye as a result of the torture he received in detention. Upon his release in 2007, he left the country.

Yahya Bajinka was arrested in April 2007 due to his association with his brother, Khalipha Bajinka, who fled the country in the wake of the March 2006 coup plot a year earlier, and also because he was overheard criticizing President Jammeh’s style of government. Journalists from the opposition newspaper Foroyya saw Bajinka on 22 September 2007 at the RVTH in Banjul. The journalists noticed a dramatic decline in his health and suspect that his poor condition was due to the torture and ill treatment he experienced in detention. As a result, Amnesty International raised concern about the condition of his health in March 2008.¹⁶ Yahya Bajinka was finally released from detention in April 2008 and then fled the country.

Others who Amnesty International spoke to received no medical assistance and are now suffering the physical, psychological and social consequences of torture. As one victim recounted his experience of being tortured, he showed Amnesty International the scars on his back, legs, and arms.¹⁷ Another former victim of torture told Amnesty International: 

I was woken up at 2am and for four days was left at the mercy of an eight-member torture squad led by the personal protection officer to the President. Wearing masks, they directed and participated in our three nights of physical, mental and systematic torture session. One was also instrumental in inflicting torture with the use of derogatory language. I should have died, as I was tortured into a coma after live electric shocks were administered all over my body, including my genitals. Before this, I was asked to disclose the number of children that I have. I said two. I was told the electric shocks were meant to make me impotent. I have since malfunctioned sexually and now my immune system is down and I am always getting a cold. Handcuffed and stripped naked, bayonets sliced several parts of my body including my left jaw. I still have physical scars on my back, legs, arms and my right hand that was disjointed three times. My jaw and hand were sliced and disjointed to bar me from working. I feel pain all over my body and hardly sleep at night. I am in need of medical attention. Since October 2006 I have been working full time, but due to my deteriorating health condition, I cannot work full time. I am only working part time at the moment because I am in so much pain. 

3. DEATHS AS A RESULT OF POOR CONDITIONS IN DETENTION

The harsh conditions of detention in Mile 2 – overcrowding, poor sanitary conditions and foul food – can in themselves be considered a form of cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment. The conditions in the maximum-security cell at Mile 2 were considered particularly harsh.

Demba Dem, who was in solitary confinement, described the conditions as follows:

Each person is confined to one cell, and the cells are very small with one small window – just big enough to lie in but not really move around. Most people are not allowed to leave their cell for the whole day and so are never exposed to sunlight.

Victims have also provided testimonies of food being withheld, being kept in solitary confinement for long periods without access to daylight, food or exercise, and being subjected to inhumane conditions including mosquito-infested areas where they were exposed to the risk of malaria, and were subsequently refused medical treatment. A former detainee, Musa, 21, who was in Mile 2 for four years told Amnesty International:

Over the period that I was in detention I was often on the verge of death; it was partly due to the torture but also that I contracted cerebral malaria and was denied medical treatment. At one point, when I was on the verge of death, a Cuban doctor treated me and told the guards that I was already dead and that there was no way that I would survive much longer. During the four-year period that I was there, at least 10-20 people died due to the poor conditions that we were all living under.

Amnesty International is aware of at least 19 people¹⁸ who have died while in prison in Mile 2 since 2005. The appalling conditions are believed to have contributed to the large numbers of deaths reported there. In another testimony, a former detainee in Mile 2, Sheriff, 34, told Amnesty International:

The conditions in Mile 2 are unbearable. So many people are dying as a result. In the year and half that I was there, over 50 people died. People are dying every day. It is due to the food mostly. They serve us expired rice and other food that is rotten. So many people are getting beriberi¹⁹and dying.

CHAPTER 4 UNLAWFUL KILLINGS 

“I don’t think the Gambian government sees anything wrong with carrying out extrajudicial executions; it is seen as quickly getting rid of coup plotters and other perceived enemies, especially people whom the President feels have turned against him.” --Human rights defender

Extrajudicial executions are deliberate and unlawful killings carried out by order of a government or with its complicity or acquiescence, and are prohibited by Section 18 of the Gambian Constitution, the ICCPR (Article 6) and the African Charter (Article 4). 

Since the government came to power in 1994, unlawful killings have been carried out routinely, mostly against those suspected of plotting coups and other perceived opponents. Soon after the July 1994 coup, another alleged coup took place in November 1994. The response by the new leadership was to extrajudicially execute 14 members of the army who were suspected of being involved. In January 2000, another coup was attempted and aborted; this resulted in the death of the alleged leader of the coup in Banjul, which was considered to be an unlawful killing.

1. UNLAWFUL KILLINGS OF STUDENTS IN A PEACEFUL PROTEST

Again in 2000, security forces opened fire on students peacefully protesting against the government’s lack of action following the alleged rape of a schoolgirl; 14 students were killed. In response to this incident the National Assembly passed an Indemnity Act which gave the President power to indemnify any person against prosecution for any act committed to quell an unlawful assembly or other emergency situation. It was intended that this law would be backdated in order to give immunity to the security forces responsible for shooting the students.²⁰ However, in 2002 the Supreme Court ruled that the Indemnity Act did not apply to the security forces since it was passed after the incident took place. However no action was subsequently taken to investigate and bring the perpetrators to justice.

2. PROMINENT JOURNALIST VICTIM OF UNLAWFUL KILLING

On 16 December 2005, Deyda Hydara, a prominent journalist, editor of The Point newspaper and President of the Gambia Press Union, was shot three times in the head while on his way home from work, and died on the spot. Two of his co-workers, Ida Jagne and Nyansarang Jobe were also in the car and were shot in their legs and critically injured. This was three days after controversial media legislation had been passed, which Hydara had opposed very vocally; it was also the anniversary of the establishment of The Point newspaper. The co-owner, Pap Saine, closed down the The Point for a month. The murder has remained unsolved since then. The government has made little effort to investigate and has been intolerant of any reminders of the case.

3. THE UNSOLVED KILLINGS OF 50 MIGRANTS IN 2005

In another incident on 23 July 2005, a group of 50 foreigners, including 44 Ghanaians, was intercepted by Gambian security forces in the waters off Gambia while on their way to Europe. It is alleged that they were suspected of being on their way to Gambia to overthrow the government during Gambia’s Independence Day celebrations. According to a Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) report, the men were taken to the Naval Headquarters in Banjul, divided into groups of eight and taken to a site in the farms of Siffoe

in Gambia’s Western Division. When they were at the fields, members of security forces reportedly killed the detainees using machetes, axes, knives, sticks and other sharp objects. The bodies were then indiscriminately dumped at various locations, among them the village of Brufut, near Siffoe. Efforts to initiate an investigation have been mired in problems. With no movement on the case by May 2006, and with no progress on the investigation, the CHRI called on the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (ACHPR) to investigate the killings. In July 2007 the Ghanaian Foreign Affairs Legal Bureau Director, Odoi Anim, identified eight Ghanaian bodies; preliminary investigations show they died from shock and trauma. In February 2008 the ECOWAS and the UN formed a team to investigate the killings. The team made a visit to Gambia in September 2008. 

4. SUSPECTED EXTRAJUDICIAL EXECUTIONS IN THE CASE OF FIVE ALLEGED COUP PLOTTERS

Reporters from Foroyya were dispatched to police stations and border posts throughout the country on hearing that NIA Director General Daba Marena, Lieutenant Ebou Lowe, 2nd Lt Alieu Cessay, Regimental Sgt Major Alpha Bah and Staff Sgt Manlafi Corr were being transferred to Janjanburu in the interior, when a road accident was reported and the men reportedly escaped. The reporters, however, found no evidence of an accident anywhere 

On the day of their reported escape, according to an inmate in a neighbouring cell who spoke to Amnesty International, Musa Jammeh, the President’s personal protection officer, was in Daba Marena’s cell when he said loudly enough for other inmates to hear: “You will not be alive after today,” and continued, “When we finish with these people, we will come for you.” The inmate told Amnesty International that, as Musa Jammeh left Daba Marena's cell, Daba Marena told him that when he left Mile 2 he would not return alive. 

Family members of the detained men have not heard from them since their alleged escape, casting doubt on the truth of the claim that there was either an accident or an escape. No independent investigation has been launched. Amnesty International has had no update on the fate of the five supposed escapees and concludes that they have become victims of enforced disappearance and have possibly been extrajudicially executed. 

Since 1994 when the government took power, there have been no investigations nor any effort made to bring perpetrators to justice for the dozens of cases of unlawful killings. 

CHAPTER 5 RIGHT TO A FAIR TRIAL

“The law is ineffective in this country. We are simply operating a bunch of kangaroo courts.” --Lawyer

Under Gambian and international law, the rights of people suspected of criminal offences are protected. This protection is designed to apply throughout all phases of detention, from the pre-trial period, to the trial itself and beyond conviction. Specific rights exist to safeguard people during the investigation phase. The presumption of innocence is the right that everyone should be presumed innocent and treated as such until proven otherwise. The right to be presumed innocent applies not only to treatment in court and the evaluation of evidence, but also to treatment before trial. It applies to suspects, before criminal charges are filed prior to trial and carries through until a conviction is confirmed following a final appeal. The right not to be compelled to testify against oneself or confess guilt is rooted in the presumption of innocence. The right of the presumption of innocence requires that judges and juries refrain from prejudging any cases. The presumption of innocence is guaranteed by the Gambian Constitution Chapter IV Article 24 and Article 14(2)(3) of the ICCPR and the African Charter (Article 7).

Torture is prohibited under any circumstances. Article 15 of the Convention Against Torture prohibits any evidence, including confessions by the accused, that is elicited as a result of torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and states that it must not be used in any proceedings except those brought against alleged perpetrators of torture.

The right to trial by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal – this applies to any tribunal that exercises judicial functions, including a military tribunal – is guaranteed in the ICCPR Article 14(1) and Article 26 of the African Charter.

Despite national and international legal obligations which Gambia is party to, the presumption of innocence and other fair trial rights are routinely violated in Gambia, especially in political trials.

1. IRREGULARITIES IN THE TREASON TRIAL AND THE MILITARY COURT MARTIAL

In March and April 2006 Amnesty International released urgent actions²¹ to raise medical concerns for detainees due to fears of torture and ill treatment while in detention, including 10 military personnel and five civilians who stayed in pre-trial detention for six weeks until they were formally charged on 10 May 2006. All 15 were charged with treason related crimes, including treason, conspiracy to commit treason, and concealment to commit treason, which are all capital and non-bailable offences. Detainees were held in solitary confinement in Mile 2 central prison, and were not granted access to families, or lawyers. The denial of access to their lawyers, in violation of their rights to a fair trial, is particularly grave given that, if found guilty, the death penalty could be imposed. Those held were also reportedly tortured, including being beaten and forced to sign confessions. Throughout their detention, detainees were seen in the hospital by journalists seeking treatment for injuries they had received while in detention. Evidence of torture was also evident when detainees appeared in court with wounds and injuries.

Demba Dem, former Member of Parliament, a defendant in the treason trial who was acquitted told Amnesty International: 

You cannot call these trials fair. There was absolutely no tangible evidence in the trial. It was all based on our written statements that were not actually even written by any of the people accused. In my case the head of the major crimes unit actually wrote out my statement and then forced me to sign it by threatening me with a knife. I was so scared I signed it. This statement was used in the court as evidence. This is what they were doing with everyone.

The trial of the 15 started in June, once the charges were made public. However, there were delays due to the decision to split the trial into two: a trial of four civilians in the High Court, and a trial of 10 army officers in a military court martial.²² The case of Hamadi Sowe, a civilian, was to proceed separately. Once the cases had been split, the trial recessed until October 2006. At this stage, all the accused were represented by lawyers of their choice.

During the 2006-2007 treason trial in the High Court and military court martial, Amnesty International documented significant violations of fair trial standards. Of major concern were: the procedures impinging on the presumption of innocence and the right to be heard by an impartial tribunal; the violation of rights in pre-trial custody and during interrogation; the use of torture to coerce confessions. 

Finally, approximately six months later, in April 2007 in the military court martial, Capt Bunja Darboe, Capt Yahya Darboe, Wassa Camara and Second Lieut Pharing Sanyang were found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. Capt Abdou Karim Jah, Lieut Momodou Alieu Bah and Cpl Samba Bah were sentenced to 25 years, and LCpl Babou Janha, Capt Pierre Mendy and Pte Alhagie Nying were given 10 years. In August 2007 the High Court found Tamsir Jassey, Alieu Jobe and Omar Faal guilty on three counts of treason, conspiracy to commit treason and concealment of treason, and sentenced them to 20 years imprisonment with hard labour. The fourth accused, Demba Dem, was acquitted due to lack of evidence. In both cases the defence counsel filed appeals, but so far the cases have not moved forward.

Editor's Note: To be continued.