Amnesty International Report 2003 - Gambia

Covering events from January - December 2002

REPUBLIC OF GAMBIA
Head of state and government: Yahya Jammeh
Death penalty: abolitionist in practice
International Criminal Court: ratified

Freedom of expression remained under attack. Several journalists were arbitrarily detained for short periods. Several people were detained on suspicion of links with the al-Qa'ida network. Civilians and members of the security forces charged with plotting to overthrow the government in 1997 and 2000 continued to be held without trial. Female genital mutilation remained widespread. Several women were charged after being accused of forcibly mutilating a young girl. A law granting immunity to members of the security forces accused of excessive use of lethal force and ill-treatment in 2000 remained in force. The independence of the judiciary continued to be undermined. No death sentences were known to have been passed.

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Background

Legislative elections were held in January. A coalition of opposition parties led by the United Democratic Party (UDP) boycotted the elections in protest at alleged irregularities. President Yahya Jammeh's Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), won all but three seats. Former President Dawda Jawara, who was given an unconditional amnesty by President Jammeh in December 2001, returned to Gambia in June.

Freedom of expression

Several journalists were briefly detained because of their legitimate journalistic activities. Restrictive decrees passed shortly after President Jammeh came to power remained in force and new legislation further threatening press freedom was passed.

• Guy-Patrick Massoloka, a Congolese journalist for the Pan African News Agency, was held incommunicado from 19 July to 1 August at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) headquarters. He was apparently accused of running an unregistered newspaper, although the basis for the accusation was not clear and it seemed that he was detained purely on the grounds of his legitimate activities as a journalist.
• On 2 August Pa Ousman Darboe, a reporter at The Independent newspaper, was arrested. The following day Alhaji Yoro Jallo, an editor of the same newspaper, was also detained by NIA agents. Both were detained in connection with an article announcing the wedding of the Vice-President of Gambia, Isatou Njie Saidy. Both were subsequently released without charge.

In mid-2002 legislation creating a National Media Commission Act was passed. The Commission has considerable powers, including the power to grant, suspend or withdraw registration of media workers and organizations. It also has the right to investigate and try media workers and organizations and the power to force the disclosure of sources and to issue arrest warrants against anyone who fails to appear before the Commission.

Incommunicado detention of al-Qa'idasuspects

Several people suspected of links with al-Qa'ida were detained incommunicado by the NIA while being questioned by US investigators. In November, four men were arrested. Two of them, both United Kingdom (UK) nationals, were released a month later and returned to the UK. The two others, an Iraqi and a Jordanian national, were reportedly still detained at the end of the year. At least one of the four may have been ill-treated and the men were reportedly threatened and intimidated by the US investigators. In a separate case, a Moroccan national was arrested on 30 December on arrival in the country and immediately detained.

Female genital mutilation

The practice of female genital mutilation remained widespread, especially in rural areas. There is no specific legislation prohibiting the practice.

• On 15 October a woman appeared in Brikama magistrate's court charged with conspiracy to commit a felony and assault causing actual bodily harm after she was alleged to have forcibly circumcized a 13-year-old girl. Six other women charged in the case failed to appear. The woman was remanded in custody until 17 October when all seven women appeared in court. The case was then adjourned at the request of the police, who said that further investigations were needed. On 31 October the court dismissed the case. Scores of women had demonstrated outside the court in protest at the charges brought against the women.

Impunity

The Supreme Court ruled that the 2001 Indemnity Amendment Act, which granted immunity from prosecution to members of the security forces accused of using excessive lethal force during demonstrations in April 2000 in which at least 14 people were killed and scores of others were ill-treated, did not apply in a case brought in March 2001 because the case was submitted before the Act became law. The case had been brought by a teacher who was suing the government for alleged assault and injuries sustained during the demonstrations.

The independence of the judiciary was undermined by several persistent problems. In February the Gambian Bar Association protested that the appointment of the new (acting) chief justice was unconstitutional as the criteria set down in the Constitution had not been respected. In July lawyers briefly went on strike to protest against the sacking of a judge who had ruled against the state in several cases.

Long-term detention without trial

Several armed forces officers and civilians suspected of involvement in past alleged coup attempts remained held without charge or trial.

• Four members of the armed forces extradited from Senegal in 1997 to face charges in connection with an attack on Kartong military posts in July 1997 had not been charged or tried by the end of 2002.
• Hearings in the trial of two armed forces officers and four others accused of involvement in an alleged coup plot in June 2000 were repeatedly delayed and the trial had not concluded by the end of 2002. The defendants, who had been detained since June 2000, faced treason charges.

Trial of Ousainou Darboe

Ousainou Darboe, UDP Secretary General, and two others charged in 2000 with the murder of a government supporter, were detained for several days in November. The detention followed a Justice Ministry announcement that bail would not be allowed for certain offences, including murder.

Intergovernmental organizations

In October Gambia signed an impunity agreement with the USA that it would not surrender US nationals accused of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes to the International Criminal Court. The agreement had not been ratified by the parliament by the end of the year.

In July representatives of the Gambian government failed to attend a session of the UN Human Rights Committee which was to consider the human rights situation in Gambia under a special procedure, initiated because of Gambia's failure to comply with its reporting obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.