By Akaleke, our Banjul Correspondent


The  High court  has ordered that  the detained former Secretary of State
For Interior Samba Bah,  be brought before the court in the interest of
justice and fair play.  A court order issued by Justice Savage compelled
The Gambian government to produce the body of  Mr.Bah,  who went missing
for the past two weeks following  reports of an alleged foiled coup, which
led to the arrest of other GNA army officers.  Mr.Bah and co had been
detained for more than 72hours, which violates the constitutional time
limit to keep detainees.  His attorney is challenging the unconstitutional
detention of his client, who recently returned from the UK, on a private
trip. Among the prayers sought in court by Mr.Bah's attorney, was for the
former  intelligence chief to be brought before a court of law, as a
protection against wrongful imprisonment, The ALLGAMBIAN online Newspaper
can reveal.

Samba Bah,  was removed from office last March,  as Secretary of State for
Interior. He was arrested on 17 October 2005 in Kotu,  while driving to
work, and subsequently whisked away to Mile 2 Central Prison,  where he
was still detained and no charges were  pressed against him at the time of
going to press.

Concerned about his continued detention, Bah’s family, through their
lawyer Antouman Gaye, has filed an application in the High Court on 24
October,challenging the constitutionality of his detention. The
ALLGAMBIAN, has learnt from a highly-placed judicial source that the case
has been assigned to Justice A.K. Savage. The judge after hearing the
lawyer Mr Antouman Gaye,  ruled that Mr Bah be brought before the court on
November 2.  Mr Bah is the second detained SOS by the Jammeh
administration. Yanks opened the gate for many after been fired. He was
also detained by the police and the NIA.

Up to the time of piecing this story the together, The Gambian government
did not advance any reason for the continued detention of Samba Bah, a
former Director General of the NIA.

The ALLGAMBIAN has been reliably informed that Mr.Bah was denied  access
to his cell phone after been arrested. Appeals made by Mr.Bah to be
allowed to talk to his family were denied by the arresting NIA agents.
Sources hinted that an  NIA agent loyal to Samba Bah,  who took the risk
to allow Bah to use his cell phone to call his wife in Sukuta was later
arrested and detained at the Mile two central Prisons. There are
conflicting reports surrounding Mr.Bah's arrest. While one report speak of
a foiled coup, the other said the President was angered by Mr.Bah's recent
decision to turn down a Ministerial appointment offered to him by dictator
Jammeh.

"Mr.Bah,  has been playing a low profile since his  firing from office. He
never attended APRC public rallies, and had since been running his private
business. His loyalty to the APRC and the President is being doubted by
many within Jammeh's inner circle."said source at the State House in
Banjul.

Our source also hinted that some soldiers were also rounded up for
questioning by state intelligence officials. It is not yet clear, what
these arrests  were meant for, but our sources said issues of state
security were being  raised at the Mile Two interrogation centre.  In
fact, our  sources further hinted that Samba Bah,  was at some point taken
to the NIA head quarters in Banjul for further questioning.


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