Yus
Thanks for forwarding us some info on the Gambia's
Human Rights Record since 1994. Perhaps, it would be
best if we await the US State Department 2001 Report
on Human Rights in the Gambia which should be made
available online on Wednesday 27 FEBRUARY 2002. Stay
tuned for some sad news on how APRC have treated its
own people.
Once again a big thank you.
Sanusi Owens
--- Y C Jow <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > I was just
browsing some Amnesty International site
> and ran into a
> comprehensive chronice of some of the human rights
> violations perpetrated on
> innocent Gambians by the regime.
>
> I have tried to cut out some of the unnecessary
> tidbits.
>
> Here goes:
>
> Human rights violations during the election period
>
> The main opposition party, the United Democratic
> Party (UDP), led by the
> vice-chairman of the Gambian Bar Association,
> Ousainu Darboe, was registered
> at the earliest opportunity in early September 1996
> along with the Alliance
> for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC),
> formed by the military
> leader, Chairman of the Armed Forces Provisional
> Ruling Council (AFPRC),
> Yahya Jammeh, and two other parties [2]. All four
> parties contested the
> presidential election later that month.
>
> Some long-term prisoners of conscience remained held
> during the election
> period. Before campaigning started, the President of
> the Provisional
> Independent Electoral Commission, Gabriel Roberts,
> made a public appeal for
> the release of all political prisoners to allow them
> to freely participate in
> the elections. This included 25 alleged supporters
> of the former ruling
> party, the People's Progressive Party (PPP), who had
> been held since October
> 1995, and leading members of the previous
> administration held since July
> 1994. However, the government refused to release
> them on the grounds that
> they must stay in custody to answer charges against
> them. Some had been
> charged with sedition, others with theft or abuse of
> public office. They were
> finally released in two measures of amnesty in
> November 1996 and February
> 1997 when all charges were dropped. Amnesty
> International believes most of
> those released were prisoners of conscience.
>
> Others, members of the UDP have been subjected to
> harassment, short term
> imprisonment and torture. By 21 September 1996 at
> least 12 UDP members had
> been arrested in various places, some for collecting
> signatures of support.
> Of these, at least five remained held in December
> 1996. After an intervention
> by Gabriel Roberts in mid-December 1996, UDP
> candidate for Jarra West,
> Kemeseng Jammeh, was released with two others. These
> three had been ordered
> released by a magistrate on 5 December 1996 but had
> been immediately
> re-arrested by security officers, apparently acting
> on official instructions.
>
> On 30 September 1996, two UDP supporters, Wassa
> Janneh and Dembo Karang
> Bojang, were arrested at their homes and held at
> Brikama Police Station, some
> 25 kilometres outside Banjul, before being released
> on bail later the same
> day. However, they were rearrested the following
> day. Wassa Janneh was
> questioned about statements he had made at a recent
> UDP rally in Gunjur, some
> 40 kilometres south of Banjul, and Dembo Karang
> Bojang was reportedly
> arrested for patrolling the streets on the day of
> the presidential election
> on the grounds that this could influence voters.
> Demba Karang Bojang was
> released after a few days in custody, but Wassa
> Janneh remained held until
> late December. Wassa Janneh was again arrested, and
> tortured in June 1997
> (see below).
>
> A few days later, on 3 October 1996, Buba Ayi
> Sanneh, a UDP supporter, was
> arrested on suspicion of attempting to cause breach
> of the peace after he had
> approached the Assistant Commissioner of Western
> Division to advise him that
> the recent arrest of these two UDP supporters might
> provoke a demonstration
> which could result in divisions and unrest in the
> area. On the same day,
> Ansumana Bojang, another UDP supporter, was arrested
> at his home and detained
> at Bundung police station. No reason was given for
> his arrest. Both were set
> free on bail on 7 October 1996. Also freed on bail
> the same day was Fabakary
> Taal, a journalist and member of the UDP, who had
> previously been held for 10
> days in July 1996 for distributing his student
> newsletter at the celebrations
> to mark the second anniversary of the military coup.
> Fabakary Taal was
> alleged to have physically assaulted an APRC
> militant. All three were finally
> released without charge on 18 November 1996.
>
> UDP supporters have also been subjected to severe
> ill-treatment at the hands
> of the authorities and of supporters of the ruling
> party. On 22 September
> 1996, the last Sunday before the presidential
> election, there were many
> political rallies held by both the UDP and the APRC.
> At one UDP rally in
> Lamin, just as it was getting dark, soldiers, some
> in civilian clothes,
> arrived by truck and, according to eye-witnesses,
> they jumped from the
> trucks, grabbed a group of UDP supporters and beat
> them with fists, cutlasses
> and/or boots before getting back on the truck and
> moving on to find another
> group of opposition supporters. This reportedly
> continued for several hours.
> Later in the evening, there was a substantial army
> presence at Denton Bridge
> which is the only thoroughfare to reach the capital,
> Banjul, at the time that
> UDP supporters were arriving home from a political
> rally. Vehicles containing
> some 100-200 supporters were stopped and the
> occupants were ordered to lie
> face down on the ground and were severely beaten
> with sticks and other
> weapons, possibly including rubber truncheons. It is
> reported that a senior
> military member of the government was present and
> even encouraging the
> military in their acts of violence. Some were
> escorted back to the Atlantic
> Barracks in Banjul, where they were again kicked,
> whipped and beaten. Those
> who were not so severely injured then scattered and
> tried to make their way
> home. On reaching Denton Bridge, some were again
> assaulted by soldiers. The
> authorities claimed that the UDP trucks were laden
> with cutlasses and stones;
> however, independent sources suggest that the
> photographic evidence used to
> support this claim was fabricated. The authorities
> also claimed that UDP
> supporters attacked an APRC convoy; again,
> independent sources said this
> allegation was without foundation. Three people are
> reported to have died
> later as a result of their ill-treatment. Such
> deliberate use of cruel,
> inhuman and degrading treatment is contrary to
> international standards and in
> particular to the Gambia's obligations under the
> International Covenant on
> Civil and Political Rights.
>
> Human rights violations since the elections
>
> Arrests, torture and ill-treatment
>
> In March 1997 three UDP members were arrested at
> Ousainu Darboe's house.
> Demba Kanyi, Musa Kanyi and Ba Sorie Ceesay were
> held for a few days without
> charge or trial. The police arrived to break up a
> gathering organized to
> welcome the leader home from a Commonwealth meeting
> in Botswana. Many of the
> participants, including women, were beaten. Demba
> Kanyi was reportedly
> injured as a result of being beaten at the time of
> arrest.
>
> On 10 April 1997 Pa Modou Faal, Secretary General of
> the Gambia Workers
> Confederation, was arrested by agents of the
> National Intelligence Agency
> [3]. (NIA) and held for 26 hours as he was about to
> leave the country for
> Libya. His passport, which was confiscated when he
> was detained incommunicado
>
=== message truncated ===
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