Gambia - Balangbaa: The perils of voting for Yahya Jammeh

By Mathew K Jallow

Fellow Gambians, as you go to the polls, it is worth reminding you of the murderous cruelty of the Yahya Jammeh regime. This year alone one Gambian military and seven civilians; five of them children have been killed by Yahya Jammeh and his henchmen. In addition, five military officers arrested since July this year have gone missing and the authorities deny holding them. These are Warrant Officer (W02) Bai Lowe, Staff Sergeant Abdoulie Jallow, Lance Corporal Anthony Mendy, Lance Corporal Sang Mendy and ex-Lance Corporal Abdoulie Sarr. Additionally, listed below are Gambians many of who were summarily executed, while nearly hundred were murdered in one manner or the other, but the majority languishes in prison, while hundreds have fled the country. Beyond that, the Kangaroo trials of innocent citizens continue to dominate the activities of this regime. Fellow Gambians, this lunacy will never end until we get rid of this monster. In the last three elections, barely a third of all eligible voters bothered to cast their votes because they did not want to vote for Yahya Jammeh. This year again Yahya Jammeh has given us enough reasons not to vote for him. Ousainou Darboe on the other hand has given every Gambian a reason to vote for him. Fellow Gambians, this year we cannot sit this election out. Go out and vote massively to get rid of this monster. Don’t listen to Yahya Jammeh and his liars, because they are the ones that are plundering and raping our economy for themselves and their families leaving the rest of the population in dire poverty. VOTE FOR OUSAINOU DARBOE. VOTE FOR CHANGE. Balangbaa calls on the youth to copy this list and distribute to the far corners of the country; from dusty trails of Wuli and Sandou to the howling shore of Kombos and from the serenity of Kantora to the heart of the of Serere kingdoms of Niumi.

Regime’s witching-hunting Kangaroo Trials

GAMCOTRAP’s Dr. Isatou Touray and Co. trials

GNOC’s Beatrice Allen and Co. trials

Suruwa Wawa B. Jaiteh and Dr. Loum’s trials

Dr. Amadou Jallow and Co. trials

Dr. Alasan Bah and Co’s trials

Recent arrest, detention and charged with treason

Amadou Scattred Janneh, former minister of Information

Ndey Tapha Sosseh, former president of the Gambia Press Union

Mathew K. Jallow

Famara Demba

Modou Keita

Ebrima Jallow

Michael C. Uche Thomas

Torture and Yahya Jammeh’s convoy related deaths

Demba Sibey of Numuyel village

A third grader from Saaba Primary School

A young girl killed Yahya Jammeh’s motorcade/Gunjur prayer fest

Paul Bass NIA operative killed by Jammeh’s convoy

Arab businessman dead in collided with Jammeh’s convoy

A soldier from Sintet village killed escorting Jammeh’s convoy

A little girl killed by convoy during Mauritanian President’s visit

A child killed by stampede for Jammeh’s biscuits at Sere Kunda market

In total since 1994nearly twenty people; children and adults have died as a direct result of Yahya Jammeh’s speeding convoys and biscuit throwing to crowds.

Recent Arrests of journalists

Sports Editor Nanama Keita, facing witch-hunting/Kangaroo Trial

Ahmed Alota, arrested, detained, released

Executed and Murdered Civilians

Ousman Koro Ceesay
Deyda Hydara
Sidia Sanyang
Ebrima Chief Manneh
Omar Barrow
Lamin Sanneh
Ousman Ceesay
Sarjo Kunjang
Ebrima Barry
Ousman Ceesay
Saja Kujabi
Haruna Jammeh
Yaya Jammeh
Daba Marena
Staff Sergeant Manlafi Corr
Sergeant Major Alpha Bah
Lieut. Ebou Lowe
Lieut. Alieu Ceesay
Sgt. Fafa Nyang
Lieut. Basiru Barrow
Cpt. Sadibou Hydara
Lieut. Almamo Manneh
Lieut. Abdoulie Dot Faal
Lieut. Bakary Manneh
Lieut. Buba Jammeh
Lieut. Momodou Lamin Darboe
Cadet Officer Sillah
Lieut. Basiru Camara
Corpl. Mendy
Lieut. Gibril Saye
Sergeant Dumbuya
Momodou Sowe

Gambians detained, released in Jail or murdered 1994-2009

RSM Alpha Bah
Major Ebrima Bah
Lt Momodou Alieu Ba
Corporal Samba Bah
Tijan Bahoum: Power Supply Director NAWEC
Kemo Balajo: ex-National Intelligence Agency
Foday Barry: ex-NIA; director of Intelligence
Ourani Barry: ex-Senior Civil Servant
Lamin Bojang: Medical Research Council
Ebrima Camara: ex-police officer
Omar Barru Camara: ex-MP APRC
Captain Wassa Camara
2nd Lt Alieu Ceesay
Lamin Ceesay: Politician
Madi Ceesay: President, Gambia Press Union
Awa Darboe Cham: wife of alleged coup leader Ndure Cham
Lamin Cham: ex-Daily Observer, BBC correspondent
Lamin Cham: Politician
Momat Cham: former minister
Momodou Cadi Cham: former politician
Superintendent Abdoulie Colley: ex-police officer
Retired Colonel Abdoulie Conteh: former KMC Mayor
Staff Sergeant Manlafi Corr
Captain Bunja Darboe
Lamin R. Darboe: Politician
Lamin Saiba Darboe
Captain Yaya Darboe
Adama Deen: former Managing Director Gambia Ports Authority
Demba Dem: ex-MP APRC
Momodou Demba: Politician
Mariam Denton: Human Rights Lawyer
Raif Diab: Businessman
Ramzia Diab: former nominated MP, APRC
Musa Dibba: ex-NIA Director of Finance
Sheriff Mustapha Dibba: ex-Assembly Speaker
Baba Drammeh: ex-Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) officer
Omar Faal: Marabout
Ansumana Fadera: ex-Senior Civil Servant
Jerreh Fatty: Politician
Lamin Fatty: journalist, The Independent newspaper
Mariama Fatty: Politician
Kebba Faye: ex-Senior Civil Servant
Tamba Fofana: Head Master
Abdou Gafar: journalist, Daily Express newspaper
Lamin Gassama: Security Manager, Banjul International Airport
Antouman Gaye: Lawyer
Pa Njie Guirigara: General Manager, VM
Sarane Hydara: ex-Senior Civil Servant
Captain Abdoukarim Jah
Karamo Jaiteh: former Managing Director, Gambia Roads Authority
Suruwa Wawa B Jaiteh: former Permanent Secretary
Staff Sergeant Buba Jammeh
Haruna Jammeh. Villager
Kebbaringo Jammeh: Councilor
Marcel Jammeh. Villager
Lance Corporal Babou Janha
Amie Jarju. Villager
Cherno Ndure Jarju: Politician
Lamin Jarsey: Politician
Tamsir Jassey: ex-Deputy Inspector General Police, Director of Immigration
Dudu Kassa Jatta: Politician
Ousman Rambo Jatta: Councilor
Colonel Vincent Jatta: ex-Chief of Defense Staff (deceased)
Momodou Jaw: ex-IEC officer
Abdoulie Kanaji Jawla: MP, APRC
Baboucarr Jobarteh: ex-Protocol Officer
Maimuna Jobarteh: Politician
Abdou Jobe: Managing Director, NAWEC
Alieu Jobe: ex-Accountant General
Duta Kamaso: ex-MP, APRC
Kanyiba Kanyi: Politician
Lamin Keita: ex-Senior Civil Servant
Nato Keita: Politician
Abdoulie Kujabi: ex-Director General, NIA
Jasaji Kujabi
Dr. Badara Loum: ex-Permanent Secretary
Lt Ebou Lowe
Mustapha Lowe: College student
Bamba Manneh: ex-NIA operative
Chief Ebrima B. Manneh: journalist, Daily Observer newspaper
Fatou Jaw Manneh: journalist
Kebba Yorro Manneh: Politician
Daba Marena: ex-Director General, NIA
Malick M’boob: ex-Daily Observer, RV
Sulayman Sait M’boob: ex-Minister, IEC Commissioner
Sergeant Buba Mendy
Captain Pierre Mendy
Omar Ndow: former Managing Director of Gamtel/Gamcel
Ndondi S.Z. Njie: former Chairman of IEC
Alhagie Nyabally: ex-President, Gambia Student Union
Alassan Nyassi
Balla Nyassi

Dr. Badara Loum: Former Permanent Secretary, Agriculture
Private Alagie Nying: Gambia National Army
Sam Obi: Daily Express, RFI correspondent
Baba Saho: ex-NIA director, External Security
Musa Saidykhan: former Editor-In-Chief, The Independent newspaper
Betrand Sambou
Dodou Sanneh: former journalist, GRTS
Ebrima Sillah Sanneh: ex-IEC officer
Lamin Sanneh: former Permanent Secretary
Sergeant Abdoulie Sanyang
2nd Lt Pharing Sanyang: Gambia National Army
Commander MB Sarr: Gambia National Army
Lt M. Savage: Gambia National Army
Ebou Secka: ex-Senior Civil Servant
Nourou Secka: ex-NIA operative
Momodou Senghore: ex-Senior Civil Servant
Ousman Sey: Marabout
Musa Sheriff: journalist, Gambia News & Report magazine
Amie Sillah: journalist, women activist
Alieu Singhateh: ex-NIA operative
Kebba Singhateh: Politician
Modou Sonko: journalist, Daily Observer newspaper
Private Ebrima Sonko
Juldeh Sowe: journalist, The Independent newspaper
Issac Success: journalist, Daily Express newspaper
Azziz Tamba: Politician
Ebou Waggeh

Arrest and Detention of Journalists

October 2005: Abdoulie Sey
2005: Musa Saidykhan
March 2006: Musa Saidykhan
March 2006: Madi Ceesay
April 2006: Lamin Fatty

Journalists on Exile in Senegal, Europe and the US

Pa Ousman Darboe
Alieu Badara Sowe
Pa Ousman Darboe
Musa Saidykhan
Sulayman Makalo
Omar Bah
Alhagie Mbye
Ebrima Sillah
Augustus Mendy
Bankole Thompson
Papa Colley
Sulayman Darboe
Fatou Jaw Manneh
Pa Omar Jatta
Momodou Thomas
Musa Saidykhan
Ansumana Badjie
Pa Samba Jaw
Sarjo Bayang
Pa Nderry Mbai
Cherno Baba Jallow
Ebrima Ceesay
Baba Galleh Jallow
Ebrima G. Sankareh
Yankuba Jambang
Mathew K. Jallow
Military/Security mysterious deaths

Captain Tumbul Tamba
Captain Musa Jammeh
Colonel Vincent Jatta
Lieut. Solomon Jammeh
Pa M. Jallow
Manlafi Sanyang
Boye Bah
Momodou Bah
Illo Jallow

Military/Security/Civilian recently detained

Lang Tombong Tamba
Bore Badjie
Omar Bun Mbye
Demba Njie
Lamin Fatty
Yankuba Drammeh
Malamin Jarju
Kawsu (Bombardier) Camara
Ngorr Secka, NIA
Ensa Badjie
Bun Sanneh
Sarjo Fofana

Military/Security/Civilians: detained, released, fled

Captain Bunja Darboe
Capt Yahya Darboe
Capt. Wassa Camara
2nd Lt Pharing Sanyang
Alieu Jobe
Tamsir Jasseh
Omar Faal
Demba Dem,
Col. Ndure Cham
Abdoulie Kujabi
Kemo Balajo
Alieu Singhateh
Foday Barry
Landing Sanneh

Executed Military and Security officers 2006Daba Marenah
Alieu Ceesay
Alpha Bah
Manlafi Corr
Ebou Lowe

Students Massacred April 11th. 2000

Reginald Carrol
Karamo Barrow
Lamin A. Bojang
Ousman Sabally
Sainey Nyabally
Ousman Sembene
Bakary Njie
Claesco Pierra
Momodou Lamin Njie
Ebrima Barry
Wuyea Foday Mansareh
Bamba Jobarteh
Momodou Lamin Chune
Abdoulie Sanyang
Omar Barrow
Burama Badjie

Gambians Missing and Disappeared Since 2005

Ebrima (Chief) Manneh: arrested July 2006
Kanyiba Kanyi arrested September 2006
Haruna Jammeh arrested in 2005
Marcie Jammeh arrested in 2005
Alfusainey Jammeh arrested in 2005
Momodou Lamin Nyassi arrested in 2005
Ndongo M’boob arrested in 2006
Buba Sanyang arrested in 2006
Alieu Lowe arrested in March 2006,
Sgt. Sam Kambai arrested in 2006
Bakary Gassama arrested in 2007
Kebba Secka arrested in 2007
Ebrima Dibba arrested in May 2008,
Ebrima Kunchi Jammeh arrested in May 2008

Cases of Regime ordered Arsons against media personals.

August 8th. 2001, Radio Station 1 FM, was set ablaze around 2 a.m. in the morning, after proprietor George Christensen and his watchman were doused with hazardous chemicals in the hope of incinerating them. The two victims survived the ordeal, but the station was a total loss.

August 10th. 2001, the home of Alieu Bah, Radio I FM journalist, who moderated debates and discussions between prominent personalities, was set ablaze around 3 a.m. while he, his wife and children were asleep. The family narrowly escaped death, but the house was gutted to the ground.

October 17th. 2003, The Independent Newspaper premises were set on fire around 3 a.m in the morning when three unidentified masked men stormed the building, assaulted the night watchman and then sprayed him with fire hazard chemical in the hope he would burn to death. But he luckily survived the assault. The premises were destroyed beyond recognition.

April 13th. 2004, the Kanifing printing facilities of the Independent Newspaper was set on fire around 2 a.m. by six individuals dressed in military fatigue. The printing machinery and other hardware equipment were completely destroyed.

August 15th. 2004, the home of B.B.C reporter, Ebrima Sillah was set on fire as he slept. He narrowly escaped.

Arrests and Detentions of Journalists

September 19th. 2003, around 6 p.m. Abdoulie Sey, the Editor-in-Chief, The Independent Newspaper was arrested from his office by intelligence agents and held incommunicado. He was released four days later.

September 2005, Musa Saidykhan, Editor-in-Chief, The Independent Newspaper, was detained for interrogation for a brief period of time shortly after returning from a South African journalist conference.

March 27th. 2006, Musa Saidykhan, Editor-in-Chief, The Independent Newspaper, was arrested again by security agents a few days after publishing an article critical of Yahya Jammeh’s reactions in the wake of an alleged coup attempt on March 21, 2007. He was released after three weeks in detention.

March 2006, Madi Ceesay, The Independent General Manager, arrested by the regime’s agents, was released after three weeks of detention.

April 10th. 2006, Independent reporter, Lamin Fatty was arrested from his home by NIA agents and released after two months in detention and charged with false publication.

April 25th. 2006, Independent receptionist, Juldeh Sowe, was arrested and released after several hours.

July 7th. 2006, Daily Observer journalist, Ebrima Chief Manneh, was arrested by NIA officials from the Observer premises, was seen in public once after two years detention, at the Royal Victoria Hospital, sick and emaciated. Six powerful U.S Senators; Edward Kennedy, Richard (Dick) Durbin, Russell (Russ) Feingold and Joe Lieberman among others wrote to Yahya Jammeh asking him to release Journalist Manneh after being held for nearly three years. Manneh has since been confirmed murdered by Jammeh’s agents.

May 24th. 2006, following the hacking of the online, Freedom Newspaper, five Gambian journalists whose names appeared on the paper’s readers list were arrested and detained for different lengths of time. After several months they were released. They are:

Musa Sheriff
Pa Modou Faal
Lamin Cham
Sam Obi
Malick M’boob

Other arbitrary arrests against journalist

September 2006, a Gambia Radio and Television Services reporter, Dodou Sanneh, was arrested and detained, and later fired, rehired and fired again from his job government job.

March 28th. 2007, Fatou Jaw Manneh, a U.S. based Gambian journalist, was arrested at the airport, her traveling documents seized and charged with sedition. Her Kangaroo trial lasted more than a year. Her heavy fine was paid with donations from family and friends from all around the world.

December 16th. 2005, police ruffed Ramatoulie Charreh up after the participants in a conference she attended, attempted to visit the spot where journalist Deyda Hydara was gunned down.

2006, Njaimeh Bah, Point Newspaper reporter, attacked by unknown assailants, was severely beaten.

December 12. 2006, Baron Eloagou, reporter for the Daily Express, was severely beaten by unknown assailants.

December 2006, Abdougafar Olademinji, reporter for the Daily Express, was attacked by unknown assailants and beaten severely.

June 14th. 2009, seven journalists and members of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), were rounded up from various locations by heavily armed paramilitary agents and detained at NIA headquarters before being transferred to the notorious Mile 2 prison outside Banjul. The group listed below, were granted bail and charged with publishing seditious material and their case is ongoing despite protestations of regional and international organizations such as Media Foundation for West Africa, Amnesty International, Community to Protect Journalists.
Emil Touray, Secretary General Gambia Press Union
Sarata Jabbi Dibba, Vice President, Gambia Press Union
Pa Modou Faal, Treasurer, Gambia Press Union
Pap Saine, Managing Director, The Point Newspaper
Ebou Sawaneh, Editor, The Point Newspaper
Sam Sarr, Managing Editor, The Foroyaa Newspaper
Abubakr Saidy-Khan, journalist, Foroyaa newspaper.

June 16th. 2009, Abdulhamid Adiamoh, Publisher of Today Newspaper, was arrested for false publication and detained at National Intelligence headquarters. Forced to plead guilty or face deportation back to Nigeria, he was fine an extortive amount of money or face six months jail time.
June 22nd. 2009, Augustine Kanja, a reporter for The Point Newspaper, was arrested and detained by security agents. He was released June 25th, 2009.

Attempted Murders: Fled Gambia
Ousman Sillah: Attorney/Lawyer
Mai Fatty: Attorney (Attorney/Lawyer

Foreign nationals executed in Gambia
44 Ghanaians
2 Senegalese
1 Togolese
2 Nigerians

72 Ministers: Appointed and Fired

Mass Axi Gai
Angela Colley
Kanja Sanneh
Neneh Macdoual-Gaye
Therese Ndong-Jatta (resigned)
Maba Jobe (hired & fired before taking office)
Momodou Lamin Sedat Jobe (resigned)
Joseph Henry Joof (resigned)
Satang Jow (retired)
Yankuba Kassama
Margaret Keita
Ousman Badjie
Samba Bah
Lamin Kaba Bajo
Musa Bittaye
Amie Bensouda
Fatou Bom Bensouda
John P. Bojang
Momodou Bojang
Nyimasata Sanneh
Bojang Mamat Cham
Ebrima Ceesay
Momodou Nai Ceesay
Ousman Koro Ceesay (murdered)
Sulayman Massaneh Ceesay
Bakary Bunja Dabo
Fasainey Dumbuya
Samba Faal
Omar Faye
Sadibou Haidara (murdered)
Sheikh Tijan Hydara
Blaise Jagne
Balla Garba Jahumpa
Momodou Sarjo Jallow
Dr Amadou Scattred Janneh
Manlafi Jarju
Tamsir Mbowe
Dominic Mendy
Alieu Ngum
Bakary Njie
Omar Njie
Susan Waffa-Ogoo
Hawa Sisay Sabally
Sana B. Sabally
Abdoulie Sallah
Hassan Sallah
Momodou Sallah
Sidy Morro Sanneh
Kebba Sanyang
Samsudeen Sarr
Cheyassin Secka
Musa Sillah
Edward Singhatey
Raymond Sock
Amina Faal Sonko
Baboucarr Jatta
Famara Jatta
Kumba Ceesay-Marenah
Mustapha Marong
Fafa Mbai
Musa Mbenga
Sulayman Mboob
Bolong Sonko
Bai Mass Taal
Fatoumatta Tambajang
Bemba Tambedou
Yankuba Touray
Crispin Grey Johnson
Antouman Saho
Lamin Bojang
Marie Saine Firdaus

The Gambia: The reluctant but willing warrior paradox; Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh

By Mathew K Jallow

Precisely three months before his politically motivated arrest, Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh confided in me his post-Yahya Jammeh’s regime’s ambition. “I would like to teach a class in Human Rights at the Gambia University.” It was a defining moment in our relations; a moment that completely altered my view of our fledging Coalition for Change Gambia (CCG). In him, I met another Gambian of academic stature with whom I shared the same worldviews. Dr. Amadou S. Janneh easily won me over with the modesty of his ambition, just as he was impressed with my persistent drumbeat calling for democracy and the rule of law in The Gambia. Ours was, therefore, a match made in Heaven. Dr. Janneh a former Radio Gambia and The Knoxville Journal, Tennessee, news reporter is no stranger to journalism and the world of politics. In1989, as a doctoral student and University of Tennessee political science professor, he founded the “Anti-apartheid Coalition of Tennessee,” a testament to his commitment to the issues of justice and fairness in politics. Earlier in his life, the native of Gunjur, a town located thirty miles south of the capital city Banjul, saw firsthand the struggles of daily life Gambians in the rural hinterland were faced with. It was a humbling experience that opened his eyes to the social and economic inequalities that surrounded him. The experience helped mould his character.

Dr. Amadou Janneh is an accomplished business entrepreneur committed to the creation of opportunities for every Gambian to succeed to help them climb out of the wretched economic conditions that have bedeviled our country for so long. In that regard alone, Dr. Janneh has proven to be the consummate capitalist with the heart of gold. But this is only a small snapshot of the character of the American-educated academic and political activist. The University of Tennessee where he studied and later taught, played an important role in his formative years; giving him the opportunity to blossom both in the sphere of academics as well as in his own personal life as a man unapologetically committed to equality and justice for all. Following the military coup in The Gambia in 1994, Dr. Janneh saw a role for himself helping pull our country out of the economic and political doldrums that had plagued us for so long. He made the fateful decision to leave the comfort of America and took an emotional journey back home after so many years. After a brief stint as Political and Economics Assistant at the United States Embassy in Banjul, Gambia, he was appointed Information and Technology minister in the Yahya Jammeh regime. But Dr. Janneh never really fit into the rhythm of the system, and before long, his high hopes for The Gambian came crashing down in cloud of disappointment and frustration. As quickly as he was appointed minister, he was fired, not a moment too soon for the Jammeh regime; and not to the surprise of everyone else.

But Dr. Janneh did not despair; on the contrary, he challenged himself to create opportunities for himself within the restricted political and economic space that Gambia’s adversarial political system afforded him. His brief stint as Information and Technology minister taught him a valuable life lesson which would carry over to his future endeavors. But it did not take long before Dr. Janneh was arrested and charged with the high crimes of treason sedition. His arrest was not unexpected; rather, it was the natural progression of the way things work in The Gambia, as many victims of the regime can rightly testify; hire, fire, arrest, trial and incarceration. But this time around Dr. Janneh’s case was different from the rest; a lot different. The uneasiness of living in a country with restricted freedoms and civil liberties did not matchup with Dr. Janneh’s expectations, and he soon set out to do something about it in defiance of the forces and the powers that be. It took only a couple of public lectures and presentations which culminated with his famous Africa Liberation Day speech at the Gambia University to court the uneasy attention of the regime, but even that was no deterrent to a person who is unapologetically democratic to the core. Today, five months after his arrest, Dr. Janneh still remains in jail, charged along with seven other CCGmembers of attempting to overthrow Yahya Jammeh’s regime. In one of his court appearances last week, Dr. Janneh protested loudly to a judge about the unsanitary conditions prisoners in Mile 2 Prison live and die in. His court protestation was typical of the way Dr. Janneh has functioned throughout his adult life; a man who will challenge and seek redress to injustice whenever and wherever he sees them.

Dr. Janneh’s emersion in the struggles to free South Africa back in the 1980s typify the character of a man who would not, under any circumstance, be intimidated or reduced to a heap of fear and self-pity. And if Dr. Janneh was concerned enough about injustices in South Africa more than five thousand miles from his native Gambia, he would never shy away from calling for political change in his own country when that need arises. And when theCoalition for Change Gambia (CCG)was founded, it was in the same spirit with which Dr. Amadou Janneh founded the Anti-apartheid Coalition of Tennessee more than two decades earlier. Dr. Janneh and his codefendants’ arrest and charges with treason and sedition is a watershed moment that showcases the regime’s predatory history, but theCoalition for Change Gambia, the civil society organization to which Dr. Amadou Janneh and his fellow defendants belong, remains committed to its goals of political freedom and the rule of law in The Gambia. As determined as the CCG members at home and abroad are to the greater good of The Gambia, the sight of Dr. Amadou S. Janneh in leg shackles and hands cuffed to his back being lifted off the ground onto the back of a military police truck by armed military police, rained tears of anger and outrage down the cheeks of many Gambians. It is unimaginable that a person, who has committed no crime, can be treated with such callousness and cruelty. But this is The Gambia where the rule of law is extinct and where justice is like a commodity in short supply.

And now, like it or not, under the climate of fear that pervades Gambian society, Dr. Amadou S. Janneh, the one who refused to be afraid, has set an example for other Gambians to follow. For now, the frivolous treason and sedition case against him and other CCGmembers, supporters and contracted workers, has attracted broad attention of the international community even though no politician at home has yet raised their voices to condemn his arrest and continued detention. To add insult to injury, Dr. Janneh is still denied access to members of his family, an act of vengeance that has turned every known law and international convention on its head. By victimizing Dr. Janneh, Yahya Jammeh will inadvertently turn him into a hero among Gambia’s increasingly vocal population and communities of dissidents at home and abroad. Ironically, Gambians and the world may perhaps just be witnessing history being made; the trial by fire of The Gambia’s next Head of State. For even though Dr. Janneh has limited is ambition to teaching a course in Human Rights at the Gambia University, after this ordeal or as a result of it, Gambians may be willing to reward him with the mantle of Gambia’s presidency if he chooses to seek it. For now, in my opinion, he is only one of few Gambian who combines the necessary qualifications to lead The Gambia to its new rebirth. And maybe, just maybe, that is precisely the reason the establishment politicians have remained mute about his arrest, detention and trial. But Dr. Janneh who has become a symbol of resistance to many Gambians, does not need any establishment politician to raise his profile or give credibility to his name. For, he more than any establishment politician in The Gambia today, has the courage, political philosophy and sobriety to lead The Gambia as its head of state post Yahya Jammeh.

But for now, to think the simple act of printing, wearing and distribution of T-shirts bearing the political statement: “Coalition for Change Gambia. End Dictatorship Now”is grounds enough to charge anyone with the high crimes of treason and sedition, is beyond imagination. One thing is clear though, all these harsh measures designed to politically contain Gambians are counterproductive; on the contrary, they will only make an already bad situation even worst. As a result, Gambian call on the regime to unconditionally release Dr. Amadou S. Janneh, hisCCG codefendants and all the political prisoners languishing in that death trap called Mile 2 Prisons. Set them free NOW. The world is watching.

Coming soon:

Innocent Part 2. The second part of a commentary denouncing the charges and trial of Dr. Amadou S Janneh and the 7 CCG members of treason and sedition.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Free-Dr-Amadou-S-Janneh-Now/136401189768798?sk=wall

You can view and sign petition at: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/731/224/590/

GAMBIA MUST DROP TREASON CHARGES AGAINST ACTIVISTS

Gambia must immediately drop treason charges against five activists, including three journalists and an opposition politician, Amnesty International said today.

The five activists, including the former President of the Gambia Press Union, Ndey Tapha Sosseh and Amadou Scattred Janneh, a former minister of Information and Communication, were charged on Tuesday in connection with the distribution of t-shirts calling for an “end to dictatorship in the Gambia’. Treason carries the death penalty in Gambia.

The call comes as Amnesty International launches a major campaign detailing how cases of enforced disappearances are yet to be resolved, those involved in unlawful killings have not been identified and bought to justice, and torture is still widely used by the security forces.

Most victims of enforced disappearances in Gambia are journalists, opposition party members or security force personnel. Investigations by the authorities rarely take place and perpetrators are not brought to justice.

“President Jammeh must stop these acts of persecution,” said Tawanda Hondora, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Africa Programme.

“All charges should be dropped immediately. These people are being punished for peacefully expressing their views. Those in detention are prisoners of conscience, who should be released immediately and unconditionally.”

Ndey Tapha Sosseh is currently living in Mali and was charged in absentia.

“President Jammeh marks July 22 each year as ‘Freedom Day’ and yet Gambia is ruled with an iron fist by a government that ruthlessly quashes all forms of dissent,” said Tawanda Hondora, Amnesty International’s deputy Africa director.

“Instead of celebrating ‘Freedom Day’, the Gambian authorities must act to end human rights abuses and the culture of fear”, he added.

Repression of the media has a long history in Gambia. The lack of independence of the judiciary in cases involving journalists and human rights defenders is also increasing. 

Amnesty International, along with civil society groups across Africa, has organized a day of action to protest continuing human rights violations in Gambia, including repression of the media.

Extrajudicial executions have been routinely carried out in Gambia especially against members of the security forces who oppose the government.

Amnesty International has also documented cases in which students, journalists and foreign nationals have been killed by security personnel.
 

Source: Amnesty International

The Gambia: Selective amnesia or intellectual quandary

By Mathew K Jallow

His decision to challenge the status quo was a courageous act of political defiance; if not a daring assault on sixteen years of state impunity and uncaring nonchalance. Still, Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh was under no illusion about the fortified wall of resistance that loomed menacingly ahead of his aspirations for our country. But the paradigm shifts evolving from Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere in North Africa and the Middle East have provided Gambians with a blueprint, an impetus and the moral obligation to take back control of our country from a regime that continues to abuse and manifest its deadly contempt for our people.

After a long hiatus from reality, Gambians can no longer continue the unsustainable paradox of luxuriating in political amnesia, as the country continues its degeneration into a morass of economic blight and social disintegration. While a hopeless sense of collective apathy and defeatism have permeated every aspect of our lives and made it difficult to extricate our country from the overpowering political quandary that has devalued our self-esteem and bankrupted our sense of moral rectitude, much of the blame for our subjectivity rests on our collective puerile naivety and callous indifference towards our country and to each other.

With The Gambia held captive in a vortex of social, economic and political degeneration, the pathway to our political liberty rests on a determination that values our and our posterity’s humanity and self worth. Still, as the banality of our paralyzing fear of Yahya Jammeh’s absolute power continues to hamper our ability to rationalize our national interests, our degeneration into lawlessness and anarchy is increasingly exemplified by an emerging national psyche that is devoid of empathy. Our duty to ourselves, our children and future generations must remain the cornerstone that inspires and motivates us to stand our ground against the ruthless machinations of a regime that is both arrogantly numbed to reason and calculatingly self-contradictory in its use and exercise of state power and authority. But the predilection to take Yahya Jammeh’s gross abuses lying down, has predictably worsened our chances of freeing ourselves from political bondage, prompting Professor Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh to deliver lectures that radiated the need and ideality of freedom and liberty for our downtrodden people. But increasingly too, the international community is focusing attention on Yahya Jammeh’s cruel dictatorship, and needless to say, sooner or later, his sadistic disregard for human life and morbid obsession with absolute power, will be his own undoing. But nothing in recent memory has perplexed Gambians and the international community as the arrest and detention of Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh, whose brush with the regime showcases Yahya Jammeh’s regime’s lethargy to freedom of speech, and more so still, its freefall into a pariah nation.

But Dr. Janneh’s arrest and continued detention have exposed, most notoriously in the blogosphere, a new dimension of the cruel underbelly of the Gambian society, where the abominable contortion of facts over the past three weeks is disgustingly surreal and sickeningly mischievous. The Ad hominem attacks on Dr. Janneh for his service under Yahya Jammeh’s regime, so pitifully devoid of sober judgment, says more about the superficial sanctimoniousness and provincial mentality of his nemesis than of Dr. Janneh. The viciousness and ham-handed approach with which Dr. Janneh’s arrest and detention were received by a scornfully misguided few, will never stain the integrity of an honorable man who decided to stand tall, so we all may follow his example out of the dungeon of political servitude; if anything, it will backfire miserably on those whose dark motives and off the wall comments are typically spawned by mean-spiritedness and lack of objective rationality. For a man who dared to do what most of us can only think, Dr. Janneh sits in prison, the victim of the dithering stupidity of a paranoid regime easily agitated into unnecessary acts of revenge and vengeance against perceived threats to its existence. Any malicious efforts to aggregate the pain of Dr. Janneh’s unnecessary incarceration by a regime that has proven time and again, that it lacks the legitimacy and the credibility under the eyes of the plurality of Gambians, will fail hands-down. The parochial mentality exhibited by a handful of Gambians in Dr. Janneh’s arrest and detention, even while the vast majority of Gambians and the international community are rallying behind the only man who had the fortitude and the guts to represent what every Gambian only dared think, is under-whelming to say the least.

And, equally important, Yahya Jammeh’s political subterfuge designed to mask the reality of his less than noble intentions, has become an all too familiar fact of life in The Gambia. But as Dr. Janneh and his codefendant’s sagas, which are the latest in the never-ending stream of arrests and detentions of innocent Gambians shows, Yahya Jammeh will stop at nothing in his attempts to silence voices that have worldviews contrary to his. And Dr. Janneh, by dint of his outspokenness about the restoration of democracy in a country wallowing in political misery, has become only the latest victim of a regime that is maddeningly intolerant to even the most innocuous political dissent. This is the daunting issue facing Gambians; an issue so critical to our freedom and liberty, and so challenging to our sensibilities, as to wake us up from the selective amnesia and intellectual quandary that has corrupted our rationality. Together, we must rally around the common interest of our people, rather than be drawn into the dangerous depths of our narrow, self-serving prejudices. 

For like it or not, Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh has become the first real symbol of resistance to the dictatorship in our country; the Lui Xiaobo of The Gambia, if you will. The non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in The Gambia has the undivided attention of the international community and Gambians should never rest until the murders, disappearances, tortures, intimidations and mind-numbing plunder of our wealth and national resources ends, and The Gambia can once again join the community of free, democratic nations of the world. Gambians must commit to nothing less than a country that is free of tyranny; a country where the values of caring, sharing and empathy, which we hold so dear to our hearts, are once again  restored in our lives.

The Gambia UPDATE: Missing ex-minister found, treason charges preferred against him and three others

Dr Amadou Scattered Janneh, a detained former Minister of Information and Communication and three others have been charged with treason for allegedly distributing anti-Jammeh materials, demanding an end to the authoritarian rule of President Yahya Jammeh of The Gambia. 

Dr Janneh, an outspoken former minister went missing after his arrest on June 7, 2011. He was picked-up by plainclothes security agents who, without explanation, sealed off his offices, dismissed his staff.  Dr. Janneh was whisked towards Banjul, the capital to an unknown location.

 

On June 13, 2001, he was seen publicly for the first time after his arrest. This was when he appeared before the Banjul Magistrate’s court together with three others. All the four persons are being tried on charges relating to sedition and treasonable offences.

The three- two Gambians, Modou Keita and Ebrima Jallow and a Nigerian citizen Michael C. Ucheh Thomas, were also arrested and held  incommunicado at  an undisclosed location on the same day that Dr. Janneh was arrested. They have since been remanded in prison custody to reappear at a High Court, as the magistrate court does not have the jurisdiction to hear treason cases.

 

The charges stemmed from the four allegedly printing and distributing t-shirts of Gambian political pressure groups, Coalition for Change, which is calling for an ‘End to Dictatorship Now’ in The Gambia

 

This is not the time in 2011 (an election year) that the authorities have arrested Gambian citizens for exercising their political rights. On March 7, two family members of Mai Fatty, an exiled leader of the opposition Gambian Moral Congress (GMC) party, were detained by the Gambian police over the display of photographs of Fatty and other GMC campaign materials at their family home in the Upper River Administrative Division of the Gambia.

MFWA views this as a deliberate attempt to scuttle the election and entrench the authoritarian regime of President Jammeh in office. In 2006, they used similar method when they launched another phase of their systematic clampdown of journalists and political opponents to deny Gambians free and fair elections.

 

For more information Please contact:

Kwame Karikari (Prof)

Executive Director

MFWA

Accra

Tel: 233-30-22 4 24 70

Fax: 233-302-22 10 84

Email: mfwa@africaonline.com.gh, alerts@mediafound.org

Website: www.mediafound.org