As we observe the first anniversary of the executions of nine prisoners by the government of President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia on 23 August, 2012, in defiance of public opinion and appeals for clemency from all quarters, the human rights situation in the country continues to deteriorate. Even though President Jammeh was compelled by the unanimous international condemnation and outcry to the executions to announce a temporary moratorium, but there is no guarantee that he would not carry out further executions anytime in the future.
It could be recalled that on August 19, 2012, President Jammeh announced, during a meeting with Islamic religious leaders at the end of the holy month of Ramadan, that the Gambia would execute all its death row inmates by mid-September, swearing to drink alcohol and eat pork (forbidden by Islam) if he failed to carry out the threat. However, overwhelmed by the international appeals for clemency that the threats generated, it took almost a week of denial after the executions were carried out to acknowledge that the nine prisoners were indeed executed. Therefore, in his usual style of stage-managing such situations, President Jammeh had to mobilize several delegations of religious and opinion leaders from various parts of the country as well as some important personalities from abroad to ‘plead’ with him not to carry out any further executions which he said compelled him to announce a temporary moratorium.
In addition to the questionable circumstances under which some of the executions were carried out, as well as their legal implications, happening suddenly without giving the inmates, their families or lawyers any advance warning that the executions would take place, up to this very day, their remains have not been handed over to their families to enable them accord their loved ones decent burials in accordance with Islamic principles.
The Gambia, being party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR), which in 2008 adopted a resolution calling on Member States to observe a moratorium on the execution of death sentences with a view to abolishing capital punishment, has violated that resolution as well as that of the United Nations General Assembly on a universal moratorium on executions. Therefore, the continuous silence of the African Union on the executions and the threats by President Jammeh to carry out further executions, is quite worrisome, to say the least.
In his comments shortly after the executions, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions, Christof Heyns, expressed concern “that death sentences were imposed in violation of major international standards, including the most serious crimes provisions. He said according to available evidence the trials did not meet due process safeguards,” adding that “the executions were carried out in secrecy, away from the public and from the families, and do not meet the requirements of transparency.”
However, the Gambia’s position on the death penalty had always been quite murky and contradictory. According to Death Penalty Worldwide, the Gambia government’s delegation to the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review claimed in its 2010 report that all death sentences had been commuted to life imprisonment. It also adds that in all three UN General Assembly votes on the resolution to implement a universal moratorium on executions, the Gambia abstained rather than voting against the resolution.
Human rights NGOs and civil society groups have always insisted that the Gambia’s criminal justice system is neither fair nor transparent when it comes to political opponents or those perceived to be opponents. For instance in 2008, in a report entitled “Gambia Fears,” Amnesty International documented numerous instances of human rights violations (including unlawful detention, torture while in detention, unfair trials, enforced disappearance and extrajudicial executions) being perpetrated by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), army and police against real and perceived opponents of the government on a routine basis.
In its 2012 annual report, Amnesty International also stated that unlawful detention, enforced disappearances and torture continued to be practiced. Adding that human rights defenders, including lawyers and journalists, were among those unlawfully detained.
In its report in 2012, the U.S. State Department also said government agents had carried out unlawful killings. It reported that at least 30 political prisoners were held at the end of 2011 and that some of them had been held incommunicado for long periods (up to 3 or 4 years) in the security wing of Mile 2 Prison. Most were former military personnel accused of involvement in plots to overthrow the government.
The reports add that due process is not always respected. Individuals may be arrested without a warrant and detained without charge for periods exceeding the 72-hour period mandated by law. Detainees are also reportedly not properly informed of the charges against them.
The reports add that due process is not always respected. Individuals may be arrested without a warrant and detained without charge for periods exceeding the 72-hour period mandated by law. Detainees are also reportedly not properly informed of the charges against them.
There are also serious concerns about the absence of judicial impartiality. Following a fact-finding mission that took place in June 2006, the International Bar Association (IBA) concluded that “[the] judicial system in the Gambia suffers from neglect, under-investment, and a severe lack of resources and infrastructure, resulting from a general deprioritisation of its importance.” Of particular concern was the impact of Gambia’s policy of hiring most of its judges from other African common law countries on fixed two-year contracts which the government may or may not choose to renew, a system under which there is no security of tenure.
The IBA also expressed concern that the judges allowed to pronounce death sentences do not always have the appropriate qualifications. It also noted that the remuneration of judges was a fraction of what lawyers earn in private practice and thus inadequate to attract suitably qualified persons and make judges less susceptible to corrupt practices.
While all these human rights violations are going on however, the Gambia continues to host the headquarters of Africa’s premier human rights body; the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights, as well as continues to host its sessions. For instance, the next session of the Commission, scheduled for November, 2013, will be held in Banjul.
This is in spite of the fact that in March, 2013, a list of about 40 African and international human rights NGOs wrote a joint letter to the Chairperson of the Commission protesting against the continuous holding of its sessions in the Gambia and threatening to boycott the 53rd Ordinary Session of the Commission as well as to cease attending subsequent sessions and NGO forums so long as these activities continue to be hosted in the Gambia where blatant violations of human rights continue to be committed by the authorities.
The human rights NGOs also expressed their determination to launch a campaign for the removal of the Commission’s headquarters from the Gambia if the situation persists. They complained, among other things, how human rights defenders have always been cowed and feel unsafe to make public pronouncements on the human rights situation before the Commission when its sessions are held in the Gambia.
“The ACHPR has made important strides in the recent years, but its ability to legitimately protect human rights will considerably be hampered if it continues to be based in the Gambia, one of the most repressive countries on the continent,” the protest letter says.
“The ACHPR has made important strides in the recent years, but its ability to legitimately protect human rights will considerably be hampered if it continues to be based in the Gambia, one of the most repressive countries on the continent,” the protest letter says.
In her response, the Commission Chairperson, Catherine Dupe Atoki, appealed to the groups to reconsider their threat to boycott the sessions. While indicating that the decision as to where the headquarters of the Commission is to be located is the prerogative of the Heads of State and Government of the African Union, she promised to bring the letter to the attention of the members of the Commission for deliberation at the last session.
Apparently, as a result of the appeal by Commissioner Atoki, the boycott was averted and many of the human rights NGOs actually attended the 53rd Ordinary Session, and it was like business as usual, with the AU hardly showing any interest in the matter.
However, while the Commission is still in Banjul and scheduled to hold its next session there in November, despite the deteriorating human rights situation, including the execution of nine prisoners last year against an AU moratorium on the death penalty, there are still calls, though muted, for its removal from Banjul.
Commenting on the general human rights situation, Mr. Sadibou Marone, Programme Officer of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) Africa Office in Dakar, Senegal, which was one of the signatories to the letter, expressed disappointment with the prisoner executions at the end of Ramadan at a time when President Jammeh was expected to pardon some prisoners. He also expressed concern about the recent amendments to the Information and Communication Act, 2013 which, among other things impose a fine of D3 million (about US$90, 000) or 15 years imprisonment or both, for anyone convicted of spreading “false news against the government or public officials; inciting dissatisfaction or instigating violence against the government or public officials or caricaturing, abusing or making derogatory statements against the person or character of officials.”
Other issues raised by Marone included the detention in-communicado of the Gambia’s most outspoken religious leader, Imam Baba Leigh, for more than five months without charge for merely criticizing the execution of the nine prisoners, and the continuous harassment of journalists, including the arbitrary closure of media houses, simply for being critical of the government.
“We think that the constitution and law provide for freedom of speech and press; however, the government restricted these rights. The environment for independent and opposition media remained hostile, with numerous obstacles to freedom of expression, including administrative hurdles, arbitrary arrest and detention, intimidation and judicial harassment against journalists, and the closure of media outlets, leading to self-censorship. Individuals who publicly or privately criticized the government or the president risked government reprisal,” he adds.
Amadou Kanoute, Executive Director of CICODEV Africa, the Pan African Institute for Consumer Citizenship and Development, and a member of the NGO coalition, reiterated the need to relocate the African Commission from Banjul as the Gambia’s poor human rights record is incompatible with the hosting of the Commission. He therefore called on the people of the Gambia as well as donors and financial and technical partners like the European Union, the United States and the African Union to intensify their pressure on President Jammeh to respect the basic human rights of his people.
In his comments to mark the first anniversary of the executions, Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh, a former minister in the Jammeh regime who was sentenced to life in prison for treason for distributing ‘T’ shirts with the slogan “End to Dictatorship Now”, who is also coordinator of the Coalition for Change – The Gambia (CCG), a civil and human rights organization, said the executions “epitomized in dramatic fashion the very anatomy of the evil and undemocratic regime Yahya Jammeh has cultivated and continues to nurture.”
Scattred-Janneh, who witnessed at first hand the dramatic events of rounding up the death row inmates for execution while he was incarnated at Mile Two Central Prisons outside the Gambian capital, said the executions were carried out under very mysterious circumstances, and that proper legal procedures were not adhered to. He said the lives of at least 40 other death-row prisoners remain in the balance in view of the personalized nature of the exercise of power in The Gambia. “President Jammeh apparently determines virtually every aspect of statecraft in the country today – a classic illustration of a dictatorial regime.”
Referring to the lack of media freedom on the country, Dr. Scattred Janneh said the “killings, arrests, disappearances, etc. of journalists and media practitioners makes the Gambia Government stand out as one of the worst abusers of free expression in the world.”
“As the global community continues to move further along the road to inclusive, democratic dispensations, Yahya Jammeh is busy backpedaling his way to a future that will ultimately see his catastrophic and, perhaps, spectacular downfall. Just when you think he has covered the entire gamut in terms to buffoonery and ruthlessness, he continues to come up with novel acts,” Dr. Scattred-Janneh adds.
“Today is a sad reminder of a dark day for the families whose loved ones were executed arbitrarily, and for humanity in general,” said Mrs Fatou Jagne Senghore, theRegional Director for ARTICLE 19 West Africa, based in Dakar, Senegal, while commenting on the anniversary of the executions.
Mrs Jagne Senghore called for the truth to be told about the whereabouts of the remains of the executed prisoners so that their families can have some kind of a closure to this sad chapter.
She went on to express concern about the lack of respect for the basic human rights of Gambians, especially those of free expression and opinions which she said are not enjoyed by a majority of Gambians. “It is urgent that more attention be drawn on the plight of victims of human rights violations so that impunity can be halted.”
Mrs Jagne Senghore said the Gambia as host of a regional human rights protection mechanism, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights should have been leading in the respect for human rights, but instead it continues to witness many acts that are contrary to its international commitments and obligations, and that such actions are sometimes sadly and ingeniously done through policies and laws that are geared to muzzling of free expression.
Mrs Jagne Senghore said the Gambia as host of a regional human rights protection mechanism, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights should have been leading in the respect for human rights, but instead it continues to witness many acts that are contrary to its international commitments and obligations, and that such actions are sometimes sadly and ingeniously done through policies and laws that are geared to muzzling of free expression.
“The recent amendments to the Information and Communication Act, 2013 which limits online expression and previous laws are a testimony to this trend,” she added.
The Secretary General of RADDHO, Aboubacry Mbodj in his comments said it isimperative to restore democracy, the respect for human rights and human dignity “as we come to terms with the impunity being perpetrated by Yahya Jammeh‘s regime of terror in the Gambia.”
“The killings, the summary and extrajudicial executions as well as the wrong accusations being leveled against those who dare speak out; including journalists and those who the regime deems troublesome must be stopped.
“The killings, the summary and extrajudicial executions as well as the wrong accusations being leveled against those who dare speak out; including journalists and those who the regime deems troublesome must be stopped.
“We need to stop the mystification of power to scare the population, and also the “ethnicization” of the army and public administration.”
Mbodj went on to call for the restoration of democracy and ensuring the rehabilitation of the state to allow the emergence of individual and collective initiatives in order to bring about the plurality of information, freedom of expression as well as put a stop to thebrain drain and prevent the youth from going into exile and allow them to come back to their homeland to serve their country.
Sources: Amnesty International reports
Death Penalty Worldwide, September, 2012
Standing Up Against Injustice – Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh
Foroyaa newspaper, Banjul