Amnesty International Report 1998 - Gambia

(This report covers the period January-December 1997)

At least 14 prisoners of conscience were held for short periods. Some were tortured. Eight military detainees were held without trial. A death in custody and possible extrajudicial executions in previous years remained uninvestigated. Four prisoners were sentenced to death, but their convictions were quashed on appeal.

In January Colonel (retired) Yahya Jammeh's party won a majority in the parliamentary election, which completed the return to civilian rule. The new Consti-

tution came into force. However, some legislation which violates basic constitutional provisions for human rights was not repealed. For example, the National Intelligence Agency (nia), which has far-reaching powers of arrest (see Amnesty International Report 1996), continued to operate and the three political parties which had existed before the military coup of July 1994 remained banned. Also, all individuals who had been president, vice-president or a government minister during the 30 years before the military coup were forbidden from engaging in political activities.

Journalists continued to be harassed and restrictive legislation introduced in 1996 remained in force. Decrees 70 and 71, for example, modified the Newspaper Act by greatly increasing the fines for any contravention of the Act. In January, three foreign nationals, all employed at the Daily Observer newspaper, were deported. In November the newspaper's editor-in-chief, Ellicot Seade, of Ghanaian nationality, was expelled. Other journalists were arrested (see below). The authorities tried unsuccessfully to ban an independent radio program which reviewed the print media and to prohibit the state media from broadcasting programs critical of female genital mutilation. This prohibition was lifted after national and international pressure.

At least 14 prisoners of conscience, mostly members of the United Democratic Party (udp), the main opposition party, were held for short periods. The ill-treatment and short-term detentions faced by its supporters since the udp's formation in September 1996 continued. In March, three udp members were arrested at their leader's house. Demba Kanyi, Musa Kanyi and Ba Sorie Ceesay were held for a few days without charge or trial. Demba Kanyi was reportedly beaten and injured and other udp members were also beaten by the police. In June, eight udp members were arrested at the party's first regional constituency congress in Brikama when police intervened claiming that the meeting was illegal. The detainees were eventually taken to nia headquarters in Banjul, the capital, where they were tortured (see below). They were released on bail after several days. The one woman arrested and tortured, Sarjo Kunjang Sanneh, had previously been held from December 1996 until February.

Pa Modou Faal, Secretary General of the Gambia Workers Confederation, was arrested by nia agents and held for 26 hours in April as he was about to travel to Libya

In July Alhaji Yorro Jallow, a local journalist for the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Alieu Badara Sowe, a freelance journalist, were held for five days' questioning after they reported that a prison riot had taken place in the capital's Mile Two Prison

In February, 11 possible prisoners of conscience were released. Three of them, Pa Sallah Jagne, Ebrima Chongan and Kebba Dibba, all former members of the security forces, had been held since July 1994 (see previous Amnesty International Reports). Charges against them were finally dropped in April. Others released included Lamin Waa Juwara, a former independent member of parliament held without charge since February 1996.

Eight military detainees arrested in July remained held without trial. Three had been arrested at the time of an armed attack on the military post of Kartong, near the border with Senegal. The other five were extradited from Senegal and arrested on their return. All had apparently participated in an alleged coup attempt in November 1994.

Several cases of torture were reported; one detainee died in custody. Yaya Drammeh had been held at Mile Two Prison since an attack by armed men on the Gambia's second largest military camp at Farafenni in November 1996. The government stated that he died of a blood disorder, but sources at the hospital claimed he was vomiting blood, could not speak and had injuries to the genitals when he was brought to hospital three days before he died.

In June the eight detained udp members were tortured by the nia. The victims spoke to the press immediately after their release and showed evidence of injuries sustained as a result of being beaten with heavy whips while being forced to crawl on their hands and knees before security officials. There were also allegations that a water cannon had been used on them and that one man, Doudou Sanyang, had been burned on his genitals. In response, the Attorney General stated that the allegations of torture would be fully investigated. However, no investigation had been started by the end of the year

New reports emerged that three udp supporters who were among scores beaten by soldiers on Denton Bridge and in a military barracks in September 1996 died as a result of their injuries

There were no investigations into suspected extrajudicial executions in previous years (see Amnesty International Reports 1996 and 1997)

In June, four men were sentenced to death by the High Court on charges of treason, following an armed attack on Farafenni military camp in November 1996. The convictions were quashed on appeal in October. However, the four remained held and were believed to face new charges. These were the first death sentences passed since the penalty was reintroduced in 1995.

In June Amnesty International urged the government to allow Sierra Leoneans fleeing their country as a result of a military coup in May to disembark from their boat to claim asylum. They remained at sea in hazardous conditions for several days before being allowed ashore. In July Amnesty International appealed to the authorities not to carry out death sentences. In December Amnesty International published a report, The Gambia: Democratic reforms without human rights. It reported on human rights violations during the election period and since the transition to civilian rule. It called on the government to end arbitrary detention of prisoners of conscience, stop torture, abolish the death penalty and organize investigations into human rights violations