Jammeh and his thugs, the NIA are at their criminal activities again. My advice to the press especially the Independent who endure the brunt of the hash and rambunctious criminal acts of the APRC is, donot be detered in your quest for the truth. This government will have to pay for the numerous human rights violations of Gambians which includes the execution of innocent children. And to Jammeh and his criminal government please heed the words of Dr. King "true peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice"
Pasamba.


Independent Published Friday, August 17, 2001
As three nights in dark cell end Independent reporter recounts NIA experience Makes tough vow to continue job  

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Alhagie Mbye a senior reporter with The Independent, who was last Friday arrested and detained by personnel of the National Intelligent Agency (NIA) has been released after being held incommunicado for three days in a dark and filthy cell at the NIA headquarters in Banjul. Narrating his ordeal to our reporter, Mr. Mbye explained how three NIA personnel on Friday evening at around 7pm came to arrest him in his house at Bakoteh shortly after he arrived home from work.
He said the men found him about 10 metres away from his compound when one of them called Bamba Manneh accompanied by another man approached him and informed him that he was wanted at the NIA office with immediate effect. Mr. Mbye noted that suddenly he attempted to use his mobile phone in order to call his editors and inform them about the problem, but his mobile was abruptly grabbed by Bamba who warned him that he was not allowed to make any such calls as he was under arrest.
He added that his mobile phone was then seized. Mr. Mbye said the two men escorted him towards the highway where he said they met another NIA personnel inside a vehicle with tainted glasses and they quickly whisked him away to the NIA Headquarters in Banjul. He explained that he was earlier informed that the NIA did call The Independent office and said that he (Mbye) was wanted at the NIA office in connection with an article carried in the paper a few weeks earlier. However, he said on their way to the NIA, he was asked about the Friday edition of The Independent in which rumours of an alleged coup plot was reported.  
Mr. Mbye said he confirmed to them that he was the author of the article. When they arrived at the NIA office, Mr. Mbye said he was taken to an office for few minutes and then later to another office where he found a senior NIA personnel called Salimina Drammeh, where he said he was interrogated about the said article. He said they wanted him to tell them how The Independent got the information about the alleged coup plot and who their sources were. Mr. Mbye added that he told them that the information was made to him from an anonymous telephone call. He however said the NIA officials were unhappy with his response and they told him that he was not willing to tell them the truth. He disclosed that around 9pm, there was an instruction that he be thrown inside a small dark cell barefooted.  
He further revealed that the cell he was thrown into was having a bad odour and full of mosquitoes, spiders with their cobwebs, ants, geckos and other insects. He added that the only ventilation on the cell was a tiny hole high up on the wall, and as a result of the intense heat inside the cell, he was sweating both day and night. He said for the first night, he was also unable to sleep on the bare floor and he decided to stand and lean on the wall while mosquitoes were scrambling on him, until the following morning. Mr. Mbye revealed that while he was allowed to wash his face in the morning for only about two minutes, three guards surrounded him and again escorted him back to his cell.
He said that by then his feet had begun to swell, and then he decided to lie down on the bare floor as he was so tired and sleepy, but that the mosquitoes and ants started biting all over his body. He said that combined with the noise outside that was constantly echoing he was mentally and emotionally distressed and even at one time he said he lost his temper and shouted for help but to no avail. Mr. Mbye said around 4pm, the cell was opened and he was taken to another office where he found a man known as Commander Bojang, Mr. Drammeh and a blind officer where he was once again subjected to thorough interrogation regarding the coup attempt story. He stressed that he was asked several questions and told to define a coup d'etat, which he said he did to the best of his ability.  
He revealed that his biography was recorded, including his immediate family members, friends, associates and neighbours, adding that he was even asked the political party he belongs to including his educational background and the countries he traveled to. Mr. Mbye also said that Foday Barry NIA director of internal security had asked those who kept watch at the NIA headquarters to remove him from the cell, which was done. However, he explained that as soon as Mr. Barry was out of sight he was taken back to the cell. He said apart from being in the company of mosquitoes, he also saw writings on the wall, which he said were signed by Dumo Saho and Ayuba Ceesay. He said Dumo who is still in detention on treason charges had written thus "the struggle continues" while Ayuba's inscription had read "justice must prevail".
He said because he was not with any pen he could not leave an inscription on the wall. Regarding the article, Mr. Mbye said he once again insisted that he alone was responsible for writing it and that even though he said sometimes the editors corrected the language, but he was entirely accountable for it. He intimated that, he also told the NIA officials that when he first got the rumours and through telephone calls on Monday morning he immediately consulted his editors who advised him to investigate the matter. He tried unsuccessfully to contact the Army Chief of Staff Col. Baboucarr Jatta.
He said he told them that Col. Jatta's mobile phone was switched off and his direct line was ringing but no one picked up the telephone until on Wednesday morning when someone had told him on the telephone that Jatta was not available in the office. He said he informed them that he decided to contact the Army Public Relations officer Lt. Lamin Gano who he said promised to call back and when he did, flatly denied the rumours and that the article was written giving prominence to the denial by the army. Mr. Mbye outlined that both Mr. Drammeh and Bojang disbelieved him and they told him that he was not speaking the truth. He said they started to shout at him by using abusive language at the private press and journalists.
"They maintained that the article was seditious with inflammatory language and that I will be prosecuted, fined and jailed. Even though my feet were swollen and I did not eat or had any drink for more than 24 hours and was also suffering from a severe stomach pain, I was forced to stand up and answer their endless questions," he remarked.  
Mr. Mbye also revealed that he was later given one cup of water, and that his personal diary was seized and photocopied. He said he was further asked about all the international telephone numbers in his diary. He said that his national identity card, press card and business card were also photocopied. When asked about the telephone numbers in his diary, he said he told them that all those telephone numbers belonged to his colleagues, friends, pen pals and contacts.
Mr. Mbye said he also told the NIA that as the correspondent for the London-based West Africa Magazine, he was in possession of their contact numbers, but that they were not convinced and that he was once again taken back to the dark cell. He also revealed that during the evening, his cell was opened and he was taken to somewhere else where he met two other detainees who were sharing the same cell and together with those detainees, they were given some cooked rice and soup which he said was completely inedible.  
He said in addition to his mental anguish, he was also tormented by extreme stomach pain and that when he later reported to them that his stomach was paining and that he needed medical attention, he said he was told no one was available to escort him for treatment. He revealed that he then lay down desperately on the bare floor with bruises on his ankles, knees, elbows, back, and head, and that during the night he was supplied with half bread with little butter or "jumbo" inside. He said he refused to eat it and finally decided to go on hunger strike, declining to eat the rice given to him the following day until Monday morning when his cell was opened for him to wash his face and prepared to be locked up again.
He said he was also asked whether he will write about his ordeal when he was released, but according to Mr. Mbye he told the NIA that he was not going to write anything but will be ready to respond to any questions from his colleagues. He said that he was further warned that the article, he wrote can cause fear and alarm and that it was a crime for it to be published. He noted that the NIA also told him that they have enough of him now as he was always busy writing critical stories and that he was a stubborn young man. "I told them I was only doing my duty as an independent journalist and that the article was done in good faith without malice. I told them that all what I told them was nothing but the truth and that I am as innocent as a judge."
He said he also told them that he was contented with what he was earning at The Independent and that he was proud to be part of them when he was asked by the NIA whether he was not prepared to take up another job. Mr. Mbye said on Monday at around 10:30am, he was taken out of his cell after languishing there for three days without changing his clothes or having a bath. He said he was again taken to an office where he was met by the Army Chief of Staff Col. Baboucarr Jatta, and after a thorough discussion, Jatta, acknowledged that he was not available on his telephone lines during the time he was investigating the story. He added that Jatta further informed the NIA that Mr. Mbye regularly contacted him regarding certain matters, and further acknowledged previous efforts by Mr. Mbye to get in touch with him to clarify issues.  
Mr. Mbye said he was able to learn a lot from the discussions at the NIA, which he said would be important for the future. He said the matter was later resolved and he was released. Mr. Mbye noted however that The Independent have gathered from reliable sources that a woman working at the Office of the President, who was locked in a war of words with the private media, with a good rapport with a top NIA official has been pressing for the heat against The Independent. Mr. Mbye further disclosed that immediately after his release, he was escorted to a private clinic by the paper's Managing Editor Alagi Yorro, where he underwent thorough medical check-up and received medical attention.  
He commended his colleagues for their timeless efforts to secure his release from detention. When asked how he felt about his encounter with the NIA, Mr. Mbye, maintained that he took it in good faith and that everything was fine and that he would not entertain any malice against anybody. "My work as a journalist in The Gambia is challenging and therefore I must expect such encounters. It will not deter me from performing my function without fear or favour" he vowed. Get more from the Web.  FREE MSN Explorer download : http://explorer.msn.com

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