Jointly Organised by: Coalition for Change – The Gambia (CCG), Article 19, and Raddho.
Assalamu aleikum. My fellow panelists, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, Mister Chairman / Madam chairperson.
Given the situation i found myself in this time last year, i am indeed truly honored and blessed to stand before you today to discuss the human rights situation in The Gambia. I am very grateful to all of you for your efforts on behalf of those facing the brunt of President Yahya Jammeh’s repressive rule.
I am equally saddened by the unfortunate events that made this commemoration necessary; but I hope the illegal executions by the Gambian leader has galvanized us enough to fight even harder for democratic change in the country.
August 23, 2012 will continue to be remembered as a Day of Infamy in the annals of Gambian history. It was the day when President Yahya Jammeh ordered the executions of nine inmates– 8 men and a woman; 2 Senegalese nationals; and, a mentally-impaired prisoner, without following due process.
On August 17, 2012, President Jammeh announced his intention to execute all prisoners on death row. Everyone at Mile II became alarmed and I decided to immediately take the names, nationalities, and other pertinent information relating to the 48 individuals on death-row, which included one woman, two Senegalese nationals, two Malians, and one Bissau-Guinean. This information was transmitted to my civil society colleagues who in turn disseminated it.
We remained worried not knowing who amongst the death-row convicts would be executed, how, and when. Suddenly at 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, August 23, 2012, a large number of security personnel entered Mile II Central Prison. The group included armed men and some carried handcuffs with leg irons. They moved from building to building, removing a total of eight male convicts and one woman from their cells, restraining them, and taking them away without any prior warning. That was the last time we saw any of them again.
Activity came to near standstill by 9:30 p.m. Pacing up and down my tiny cell, I managed to quickly transmit information to my colleagues again, narrating what had just transpired. On Friday morning, August 24, 2012, inmates who worked at the prison bakery late the night before reported seeing the security contingent that extracted the death row inmates load nine large bags into unmarked pickup trucks. Some officers who were on duty overnight were visibly distraught. One senior officer even extended condolences to us on the deaths of our friends.
The period after the executions was very traumatic. Senior prison officers decided to tighten their grip on the Security Wing. We were confined, or sealed, in our cells for 20 hours every day and subjected to regular, intrusive searches. Ill-health became severe at a time when our minimal access to the poorly equipped prison health facility was practically stopped.
The executions of Lamin Darboe, Alieu Bah, Lamin Jarju, LF Jammeh, Gibril Bah, Dawda Bojang, Malang Sonko, Abubakar Yarbo, and Tabara Samba were carried out under very mysterious circumstances, and proper, legal procedures were definitely not adhered to. 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.
The events of August 23, 2012, as serious as they were, epitomized in dramatic fashion the very anatomy of the evil and undemocratic regime Yahya Jammeh has cultivated and continues to nurture.
Before the executions were carried out, Jammeh made sure he silenced the few remaining independent media while at the same time keeping an eye on outspoken religious leaders such as Imam Baba Leigh and Imam Baa Kawsu Fofana. Imams are expected to subscribe to his interpretations and to legitimize his government’s policies and actions. Not only that, they are expected to act as sycophants working tirelessly in support of his partisan agenda. To ensure this, he uses a mix of carrots and sticks. Vehicles, rice, sugar, oil, and cash to the conformist religious leaders; and arrest, detention, torture, and even exile for those who defy him or fail to act according to his dictates.
In the area of the media, the same overall pattern of domination and intimidation prevails. The national broadcaster is treated essentially as Jammeh’s private property, airing his every sneeze. No one dares broadcast anything that’s remotely critical of the regime. Radio stations have been reduced to just providing music and sports programs.
Those that tried to take a different path — such as Citizen FM and Teranga FM — were arbitrarily shutdown. Newspapers have not fared any better. 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. In addition, the President through the notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA) closed down papers such as The Daily News and The Standard without following due course or policy guidelines.
Citizens access to information is also severely restricted by the regime’s practice of blocking websites that are critical of Yahya Jammeh or exercise editorial independence (example: FreedomNewspaper.com, HelloGambia.com, Maafanta.com, Gainako.com, TheGambiaEcho.com, and JollofNews.com). Even websites belonging to civil society organizations have been affected by the practice.
As the global community continues to move further along the road to inclusive, democratic dispensations, Yahya Jammeh is busy backpedaling his way to a status that will ultimately see his catastrophic and, perhaps, spectacular downfall. Just when you think he has covered the entire gamut in terms of buffoonery and ruthlessness, he continues to come up with novel acts.
The headlines are both amusing and tragic. Youths arrested for playing soccer; Foreign currency trading banned, then permitted; ForEx bureaus banned; Summer school banned; four-day work week instituted; EU bashed one-day, then hailed as an invaluable partner the next day; officials jailed, then released and promoted, before being locked up again; the President offers explanations for what he terms an increase in male infertility in The Gambia; Gambia Government to crackdown on online critics; etc. What more evidence do we need to establish that it is time to end Yahya Jammeh’s misrule?
The level of frustration and hopelessness is now quite intense. And unless nonviolent means are effectively, extensively, and intensively utilized to influence the direction of political change, we may inadvertently allow the seeds of violent political turmoil to grow in the country.
And we must do all we can to fight for a new political dispensation characterized by the following elements:
(a) Free and fair elections (redistricting, establishing a truly independent electoral commission, prohibiting the use of public resources for partisan political activities, ensuring the neutrality of the armed and security services in the political sphere, etc.);
(b) Term limit (two-term limit for the President);
(c) Equal access to public media by the political parties;
(d) Freedom of expression (free speech and freedom of the press);
(e) Freedom of association;
(f) Rule of law (end arbitrary arrests, detention, extrajudicial killings, torture, and so on; investigate all cases of mysterious deaths and disappearances);
(g) Freedom for all political prisoners;
(h) Freedom of Religion; and,
(i) A system of checks and balances (independent judiciary, review judicial appointments and tenure, legislature with real powers, executive with limited powers, etc.).
It is only through advocating for such principles that we can guarantee future generations will never be burdened with the type of political environment we now have in the country.
Gambian opposition parties and civil society groups must come together with a unified agenda to bring about meaningful democratic change in The Gambia and to selflessly pursue that common objective.
And the international community can play a significant role by isolating the dictatorship and imposing targetted sanctions (such as travel bans and freezing assets belonging to Jammeh and his associates and closest family members). The Gambia’s neighbors, particularly, need to take a tougher stance against Yahya Jammeh. The consequences of inaction in the face of an increasingly repressive and belligerent regime within the region will undoubtedly be felt far beyond The Gambia’s borders.
Finally, as we mourn the nine people illegally executed by Yahya Jammeh’s regime, we must not lose sight of those still suffering in the country.
Of particular concern are those within the prison system. The government has effectively kept independent observers and journalists at bay because of the illegal and inhumane character of the prisons.
There are many individuals who have been detained for very long periods without being taken to court. Abdourahaman Baldeh, a Senegalese national, has been incarcerated since July 1997. He is yet to be charged with any offence but continues to languish in jail. Also imprisoned without a court appearance was Alfusainey Jammeh from Kanilai, who was taken into custody in 2006. He was later released in July 2012. Navy Officer M.B. Sarr too has been in detention at Mile II since March 10, 2010, without being told what his offense was.
There is an urgent need to redress the overall situation with help from all of you.
I thank you all!
Amadou Scattred Janneh,
Coordinator – CCG
August 23, 2013
Dakar, SENEGAL
Email: [email protected] /
SKYPE: scattred Twitter: @ChangeGambia
Telephone: +221 777 964 289 or +1(912) 306-4423
Websites: www.StandingUpAgainstInjustice.com / www.ChangeGambia.org