Supreme Court frees former naval chief

A five-member panel of judges of the Supreme Court of The Gambia headed by the Chief Justice yesterday set free Rear Admiral Sarjo Fofana, following a judgment delivered on the appeal he filed before the court.

In the same vein, the Supreme Court dismissed Lt. General Lang Tombong Tamba’s appeal on count 3 and 4, and discharged and acquitted him on count 1, which was conspiracy to commit treason, and count 2, which was treason.

Delivering the lead judgment, Justice Gibou Janneh said the appellants were arraigned at the high court on a four-count charge of conspiracy to commit treason, treason, and concealment of treason before Justice J.E. Ikpala.

He said at the closure of the prosecution’s case, the defence opted for a no-case-to-answer submission, which was rejected by the court and the accused persons through their counsel refused to enter into their defence.

The appellants were then convicted by the said court and sentenced on count one, which was conspiracy to commit treason, to 20 years in prison and on count two, which was treason, to another 20 years in prison.

Lang Tombong Tamba was also sentenced to 10 years in prison on count three, which was concealment of treason, and another 10 years in prison on count four, which was treason.

The appellants, not happy with the judgment, through their counsel filed an appeal separately at the court of appeal, which was dismissed.

The appellants further filed an appeal before the Supreme Court.

“Having gone through the appeal filed by the defence and the statement of case filed by the state, the fact is whether there is sufficient evidence to warrant conviction of the appellants,” the judge said.

The prosecution in counts one and two relied on the corroborative evidence of its witnesses, Justice Janneh went on, adding that in his view the trial judge was speculative in his decision.

The trial judge recorded that PW5, Yahya Darboe, was not sworn when testifying and the defence applied for the witness to be treated as a hostile witness.

He said the trial judge missed two legal principles regarding a person to be sworn.

It seemed that the trial judge was not aware of section 125 of the criminal procedure code, and counsel did not also bring it to his attention.

The trial judge having realised the error of Yahya Darboe testifying without being sworn, and no reason was given as to why he was not sworn, ought to have excluded him or not taking into account his evidence, in his judgment regarding the guilt of the appellants.

The trial judge wrongly took the evidence of PW5, Yahya Darboe, who was neither sworn nor examined legally.

There was no evidence connecting Tamba and Fofana in count one and two and Justice Janneh, therefore, allowed the appeal, and acquitted and discharged them in count one and two.

On concealment of treason, there was nothing in exhibit A which corroborated the evidence of PW1, Major Momodou Alieu Bah, adding that what it stated was that Tamba had knowledge of the planned coup.

Apart from admissions in exhibit C, the court had no corroborative evidence to rely on, and had the appellant, Tamba, testified at the closure of the prosecution’s case, the judge would have been convinced.

Justice Janneh further said it was risky and a gamble for the appellant not to give evidence, when the court rejected his no-case-to-answer submission.

He, therefore, held that there was no miscarriage of justice, hence dismissed the appeal on the concealment of treason and affirmed the conviction of the high court.

The appeal of Rear Admiral Sarjo Fofana was allowed, and he was therefore acquitted and discharged.

For Lt General Tamba, he was acquitted and discharged on count one and two, and his appeal on count three and four was dismissed and the conviction of the high court was affirmed.

However, the Chief Justice said the appellant, Lt General Tamba, had knowledge of the planned coup; he therefore dismissed the appeal on counts one and two.

In respect of counts three and four, he agreed that the appeal be dismissed.

He agreed that for Rear Admiral Sarjo Fofana the appeal be allowed, and the appellant be acquitted and discharged.

UDP Is APRC political Cancer

UDP leader greeted by crowds

Ousainou Darboe, the leader of the opposition UDP party has asserted that his party remains well-organised and will work assiduously in order to pull victory at next year’s presidential election.

In an exclusive interview with The Standard against the backdrop of the party’s recent nationwide ‘caravan’ tour, he said: “The UDP is as strong as it ever was and I have always said that before. The problem is that the government does not open us (opposition) access to the state media and they are continually feeding people with propaganda…  so you can barely know our strength if we do not go out on a tour. If we can talk to the whole Gambia through the state radio and television ahead of our meetings and tours around the country like the APRC does, they can never match us in terms of popularity. I want to make it clear that we (UDP) are not flexing muscles; we are just showing the APRC how strong our support base is.

“I would want the UDP to do more of these tours before 2016 presidential elections. In fact, I am going to propose to party executive when we meet that we should do more of this tour but targeting various parts of the country, randomly and I will be also, whenever I have time, going to certain places to see and socialise with our people. We are also going to Foni. At Fass Njaga Choi, I told our executive members that I was not angry with the police. I told them that they (APRC) had intelligence that when we are allowed to go on this tour, it is going to be devastating politically. That was why they denied us the permit to use the Public Address System but they ignored the fact that the law only enjoined us to apply for just the PAS but not to hold a public meeting. Freedom of assembly is an entrenched clause in the Gambian constitution. We were determined to go and speak to the people and there was no way we were going to stop because we were denied to the PAS.

“In fact, at Essau we held our meeting with the PAS and it was a success. The APRC has realised that the UDP is their political cancer and we have eaten so much into their political tissues and they are terminally ill now. If one conducts an opinion poll in this country, Gambians will tell you that, “we are fed-up with this man (President Jammeh)”. It is an insult to Gambians to invite a wrestling champion and give him huge amount of money and brand new cars or call musicians from Mali and other places and give them money. As we speak, there are no medicines at our hospitals and how many children are going to bed without food? These children cannot even have porridge or even left-over rice from people- and they go to school like that.”

Source: Standard News

Zimbabwe: Silence on ‘Disappeared’ Activist

Comply With Court Order to Locate Itai Dzamara, Missing 60 Days

• 
  
  Enlarge

  An image showing Itai Dzamara standing in the Africa Unity Square, Harare, holding a banner calling on president Robert Mugabe to step down.
  © Kumbirai Mafunda, October 2014

• 
  Enlarge

  Itai Dzamara in a Harare hospital recovering from injuries he sustained when about 20 uniformed police handcuffed and beat him up with batons during a peaceful protest in November 2014.
  © 2014 Kumbirai Mafunda

Zimbabwe authorities appear to be doing nothing to find Itai Dzamara, increasing concerns about his safety. The threats against Dzamara by state security agents are a red flag for Zimbabwe’s international allies to press the government to come clean about what happened to him.

Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa senior researcher

(Johannesburg) – Zimbabwe authorities should urgently provide information on the whereabouts of a prominent human rights activist, Itai Dzamara, Human Rights Watch said today. Five armed men abducted Dzamara on March 9, 2015. He has not been heard from since, raising grave concerns that he has been forcibly disappeared.

Family members told Human Rights Watch that state security agents had repeatedly threatened Dzamara prior to his abduction, warning him that something would happen if he did not halt his activism. Authorities have denied involvement in his abduction.

“Zimbabwe authorities appear to be doing nothing to find Itai Dzamara, increasing concerns about his safety,” said Dewa Mavhinga, Southern Africa senior researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The threats against Dzamara by state security agents are a red flag for Zimbabwe’s international allies to press the government to come clean about what happened to him.”

Dzamara, a 36-year-old journalist and human rights activist, is a leader of the Occupy Africa Unity Square protest group. He has led a number of peaceful protests against the deteriorating political and economic environment in Zimbabwe, petitioned President Robert Mugabe to resign to allow for fresh elections, and called for reforms to the electoral system.

On several occasions in 2014 and 2015, police and supporters of Mugabe’s ruling ZANU-PF party assaulted Dzamara. During a peaceful protest in November 2014, about 20 uniformed police handcuffed and beat Dzamara unconscious with batons. When his lawyer, Kennedy Masiye, tried to intervene, the police beat him as well, breaking his arm. Both were hospitalized.

Two days before he was abducted, Dzamara addressed a political rally organized by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC-T), calling for mass protests against worsening repression and economic conditions in Zimbabwe.

On March 9, 2015, at about 10 a.m., the five unidentified men dragged Dzamara out of the barber shop where he was having his hair cut near his home in the Glenview suburb of Harare, the capital. The men handcuffed him, forced him into a white pickup truck, and drove off, witnesses said.

Zimbabwe authorities have denied any government involvement in the abduction. On April 10, Information Minister Jonathan Moyo, in response to a Human Rights Watch inquiry about Dzamara’s whereabouts, tweeted, “I don’t know, and I have no basis for knowing.”

On March 13, Dzamara’s wife, Sheffra Dzamara, approached the high court in Harare to compel state authorities to search for her husband. Judge David Mangota ordered the home affairs minister, the police commissioner-general, and the director-general of the Central Intelligence Organization (CIO) “to do all things necessary to determine his whereabouts.” The ruling included an order to advertise on all state media and work closely with lawyers appointed by Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights to search for Dzamara “at all such places as may be within their jurisdiction.” The judge ordered the government to report to the court every two weeks on its progress with the case until Dzamara is found.

Senior state security officials have yet to comply with the High Court’s orders.

On April 25, activists organized a car procession to raise awareness about Dzamara’s presumed enforced disappearance. Police arrested 11 of the activists and detained them for six hours, then released them without charge.

Sheffra Dzamara reported in early April that unidentified men were keeping her under constant surveillance and that she feared for her life. Zimbabwean authorities should immediately take steps to ensure the safety of Dzamara’s wife and children, Human Rights Watch said.

Human rights activists in Zimbabwe face severe restrictions on their work. Police frequently misuse laws such as the Public Order and Security Act (POSA) and the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act (AIPPA) to ban lawful public meetings and gatherings. Opposition and other activists are unjustly prosecuted under these laws. The government should repeal or appropriately amend both laws to bring them in line with the new constitution and Zimbabwe’s obligations under international law.

Enforced disappearances are defined under international law as the arrest or detention of a person by state officials or their agents followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty, or to reveal the person’s fate or whereabouts. Enforced disappearances violate a range of fundamental human rights protected under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Zimbabwe is a party, including prohibitions against arbitrary arrest and detention; torture and other cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment; and extrajudicial execution.

“The Zimbabwean government should immediately establish Dzamara’s whereabouts, and ensure the protection of all his rights,” Mavhinga said. “Failure to do so would demonstrate to the world that Zimbabwe’s poor human rights record has not improved.” 

Source. http://www.hrw.org/

Update On UDP’s Caravan Tour

Convoy arrives in Niani

The United Democratic Party (UDP) Caravan tour is now in Niani, with the convoy currently in Bakadagi visiting elders as tradition demands. This will be followed by a meeting in the area. In all the visited places, the party has been belabouring on the need to bail the Gambia from bad governance, gross violations of citizens’ rights, among others.

But in Niani, the party’s central message hinges on the sorry state of agriculture, especially at a time when the government has woefully failed to help farmers with farming inputs, let alone help them market their produce.

Speaker after speaker, including the party leader Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, talked about the deplorable human rights condition and fear that continue to grip everyone living in the country. They also harped on misuse of power and waste of public funds.

The speakers advised Gambians “to stop working at President Yahya Jammeh’s farms. People should work for themselves, no one should be a slave to a President.”

In Niani

Yesterday, the UDP tour caravan spent the night at Salikene in Central Badibou. The party leader spoke at a well-attended rally. Mr Darboe called upon farmers to know where their priority lies. He said “the farming community is dwendling year by year, rainy season by rainy season. “If this continues, the country will continue to depend on imported food. The prices of which are always sky high rocketed due to the heavy tax levied on them. The health of our children, mothers and grandmothers will jeopardise since some of the imported goods are not healthy,” Mr. Darboe said.

Mr Darboe further reiterated that farmers should stop what he call “slaving for the president.” He asked why any sensible person would leave his farm and traveled long distances only to volunteer at the President’s farm. This is wrong and must be stopped. Work at your farm, tend to your crops and stop working for the president.”

Lawyer Darboe decried the Jammeh government’s inability to buy groundnuts on time. He said credit buying has demoralised, demeaned and discouraged Gambian farmers. “Without a achange of government, things will remain the way they are, and will get even worse,” he said, expressing his party’s sympathy with farmers. “The UDP cultivate a youth farm every year and they know first hand how hard it is to buy the necessary seeds and fertilisers. We will work hard in securing avenues that will create an enabling environment for agriculture. The agriculture department will be manned by highly capable officers that will be set targets and goal to achieve. We will help farmers develop simple technology to develop their own fertilisers utilised in many countries. We will work hard in securing venues that will create an enabling environment for agriculture.”

Mr. Darboe said a UDP government will work with world groundnuts buyers to provide market for Gambian farmers. “We will open up the Gambian groundnut and cotton markets, the most profitable bid for the farmers will accepted to buy the produce. However, we will also create avenues of processing the peanuts into oil and soap and any other things that can be gain out of peanuts and cotton.”

A well-known supporter of the ruling APRC was among a number of people in Badibu Salikene cross carpeted to the UDP. Momodou Lamin Darboe said he was compelled by the interference of the executive in the religious affairs of communities to the extent of dictating to people when to observe Eid prayers.

Other speakers at Salikene, Kintehkunda, Njabakunda, Sabach Sanjally includes, Fatoumata Tambajang, Dembo Bojang, Kemeseng Jammeh and others.

The tour is receiving renew support in smaller villages, with people making lines on the street requesting a visit.

The Caravan is currently in Niani where they held a meeting in Bakadagi, Kayai, Karantaba and others. The convoy is expected to reach Janjabureh and cross over to spend the night in Tambasansang in Upper River Region.

The UDP youth Secretary, Ebrima Solo Sandeng was dispatched to ferry people who requested to be part of the welcoming team in Basse. Several people from Basse will be meeting the caravan at the Janjanbureh crossing point to lead the convoy to Basse.

Tomorrow, they are expected to hold rallies in Kantora, Wulli, Sandu.

The leaders within the UDP are said to be delighted with the reception they are getting. Lawyer Darboe urged the need to ‘bury fear in Gambian politics”. He called on youths to stop risking their lives at sea. “Youths are fleeing in large numbers away from rural areas, youths are dying at sea, all because the government lacks the ability to create jobs, opportunities and hope for the future generation of the Gambia.”

Ends

UDP Has Enough Of Jammeh’s Thuggery!

By Pata Saidykhan

There will always come a time when an oppressed people will be obliged to push back against their oppressors, when they continued to be denied the ventilation they needed. It is only natural that patience and perseverance run out and the innate instincts to defend self kick in. This is the state of the Gambian opposition and United Democratic Party in particular.

Since its formation in 1996, the United Democratic Party (UDP) endured the nastiest and most undeserved wrath of the military junta camouflaged as a political party, with persistent persecution. Jammeh and his regime certainly did not anticipate the kind of resistance they had, after they had succeeded in unlawfully proscribing political participation of parties and certain people from the first Republic. Peoples Progressive Party (PPP), National Convention Party (NCP) and Gambia Peoples Party (GPP) and their respective leaderships were barred from political activity with Decree 89. The uneducated young lieutenant and his gang of average minds were able to hatch against the Gambia and Gambians with the help of many disingenuous and greedy legal luminaries and technocrats, to marginalize the Gambia’s finest. From the onset, Yaya and his crew never planned on cede power once they had muddied their hands with coagulated blood and looted riches.

Unbeknownst to them, there were determined and crafty Gambians who saw through their mischievous plots and refused to let them set us for doom. Foolishly complacent, they got blindsided by the emergence of newer, fresher politicians in United Democratic Party and National Reconciliation Party. With the new lifeline handed to PDOIS from PPP dominance, these Parties would come to challenge Jammeh and threatened his political career especially in the first two election cycles – 1996, 2001. Things have never been the same since.

Threatened by the UDP, a party that would go on to be the biggest opposition party in the country, Yaya ventured in to unsavory political stratagem that would see him morphed his new civilian government into a quasi military regime to intimidate, harass and torment his opponents. He took a page from the books of those autocratic leaders he had looked up to, to not only consolidate himself in power, but muscle and strangulate the lives out of the people. Jammeh is still bent on doing just that.

When news broke that the UDP’s caravan was intercepted by the police in the Nuimis for a supposed lack of permit, I was gobsmacked and left in awe. Knowing how calculated and law abiding the leader of the UDP Lawyer Ousainou Darboe is, to the point of being branded soft and afraid, it was immediately conclusive that the State and the ruling APRC were daring, and wanting to rake the ground of a possible confrontation that could set the country ablaze. They are luring the UDP in what could be dubbed ‘Battle of Fass’. I was angry that Yaya’s uninhibited indiscipline has gone too far and he might have gotten away with it again. I was wrong. I became proud and satisfied that the UDP stood their ground refusing to budge. That was pleasant! The UDP just like APRC, have the right to freedom of assembly and movement. Blocking their path is an infringement of their right which could almost tantamount an illegal arrest or taking hostage.

For a very long time, supporters and non UDP affiliates were frustrated by the inhumane treatment meted out to the party and its leadership that was not adequately met with equal and measured resistance. Of course Darboe and the party fought and defended a lot of the barbarity in the courts, without success. It is insulting that our country’s law enforcement chiefs do not know their job but most worryingly, would want to execute an unlawful order that could seriously threaten and destabilized that country.

What many had seen and/or heard from Fass Njaga Choi, was the type of defiance they expected from the country’s largest opposition party. That they would love them to be law abiding, but should be able and willing to defend their rights and die for them should anybody wanted to confiscate them. That the numbers that they have behind them, must count and put in play to show Gambians that they are indeed an able, qualified Government in-waiting. That there is a reason Yaya Jammeh sees them as a threat, and that should be an impetus for them to show him that Enough Is So damn Enough! Lawyer Darboe and Youth Leader Solo Sandeng embodied and manifested that in this impasse as they should. Yaya is a coward and he is not ready to die.

I have spoken to Lawyer Ousainou Darboe and a couple of people currently in Fass to extend support and solidarity, and I was impressed. Darboe and uncle Kemeseng Jammeh were in very high spirits, adamant that this silly lawlessness would have to come to an end. That Jammeh cannot continue to play a demi-god role to have the rest of the country subservient. These are people in their 60s, filling the shoes of the youth who should have been in the forefront of the battle to liberate Gambia had it not been for Jammeh’s reckless and irresponsible type of governance that had the crème da la crème of our youth risking to die at sea in search of better lives, or stay at home scared to even think for themselves.

Whatever the outcome of this standoff, would set a precedence going forward especially into the 2016 elections. Should the UDP back down, Yaya would take that for a weakness, a scored point and would do just that to continue the intimidation. Should they refuse to obliged and forge on with their tour, a huge political gain for them because Jammeh would then understand that Gambians are ready and willing to take our country back at all cost. That no amount of thuggery would make them relent. The later would be an important catalyst to a possible victory at the polls with a United Front because the Gambian electorate would need that myth buster. Yaya is a TV thug. A coward and bully who is scared to death of confrontation. That is why he will never try this audacious stunt in Banjul or the Kombos.

The election violence that marred the keenly contested elections in 1996 and 2001, were the confirmation of the type of a leader and politician Jammeh is. That employ whatever it takes to silence and crush anyone who poses a perceived threat to his reign. This would follow series of arrests, abductions and torture of staunch opposition figures like the late Momodou Lamin Shyngle Nyassi, Lamin Waa Juwara and other members of the Opposition. Deadly confrontations spearheaded by the late Baba Jobe and his defunct July 22 militants, would cost a few UDP members their lives and one Alieu Njie, an APRC supporter who was killed in the URD in 2000. It has continued and Mr Amadou Sanneh the party’s treasurer became victim. Unarguably, they bore the worst brunt of this regime’s terror and they seem to be ready to halt that. However, it is a fight that no one person or party can win alone.

The show of solidarity from Gambians especially from the other Party leaders is a mark of the dire urgency of our situation. That is why this must not be seen as a UDP fight. It is often always them because they are Jammeh’s migraine but every party and their leader are a potential victim. Ultimately, Gambia stands to lose should he prevail.

“We must either be a nation of laws equally applied to all or succumb to a nation run by clique who would commit crimes and repress the people with impunity.” – Karamba Touray
The Struggle Continues, by ALL means Necessary.

Peace To The Planet!

Ends

Gambia Government Orchestrated Potential Bloodbath Against UDP

PRESS RELEASE

POTENTIAL BLOODBATH BEING OCHESTRATED BY GAMBIA GOVERNMENT AGAINST THE OPPOSITION UNITED DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

The United Democratic Party (UDP) is informing the international community about a potential bloodbath being orchestrated by the Gambia Government against the party.

Currently the UDP has embarked on a countrywide tour starting from 16th – 26th April, as part of its outreach activities to consult and reach out to its grassroots members. From the onset, the tyrannical regime of the Gambia has been putting in place obstacles to deny the party from going ahead with the countrywide tour.

First, the police have been refusing to act on UDP’s application for a permit to use public address system during the tour as required by the Public Order Act. However having waited for the police permit for weeks without granting any, the Party finally decided to embark on the caravan tour to engage its supporters without using public address system.  Bearing in mind there is no constitutional requirement restricting travel and assembly within the country.

Immediately the UDP caravan crossed into the North Bank Region of the Gambia, the police, in full riot gear, started following them and cordoning off meeting venues. Now as things stand, the police have blocked all access roads making it impossible for the UDP caravan to move ahead with the tour right outside the village call Fass Njaga Choi. The UDP caravan has also refused to give in to police harassment. Currently there is a tense standoff. The police have called for reinforcement from one of its brutal units called the police intervention unit (PIU). This is the same unit that was deployed in the April 10th and 11th 2000 student demonstration during which not less than 14 unarmed students were brutally killed by trigger happy officers.

The world is informed of the potential for a similar backlash where trigger happy officers are being deployed to attack UDP members. Among the touring caravan are senior executive members of the UDP including the Party leader, Lawyer Ousainou Darboe.

We hold the Gambia government particularly responsible for the safety and wellbeing of members of the UDP caravan. We demand that the caravan be allowed to continue with its grassroots tour unhindered. Anything less is unacceptable.

The UDP Diaspora is urging all Gambians to come out in great numbers to Fass Njaga Choi for reinforcement for a peaceful resistance that has been initiated by the UDP leadership.

We are also seeking funds to provide logistical support for the folks at the forefront.  Please donate at the following gofundme link. http://www.gofundme.com/s59h8x9h.

For further information, please contact the following people:

Lamin Tunkara: Telephone: 919 757-9469

Karamba Touray: Telephone: 863 837-7874

Suntou Touray: Telephone: 447411248764

Ebrima Dibba: Telephone: 206 250-3822

Fabou Sanneh: Telephone:     347 323-8463

Share this:

Day 2 Of UDP Standoff With Police

UDP activist Suntou Touray talked to RFI and explained the quick turn of events and why the United Democratic Party is continuing to stay put until the police open up the road.Lawyer Darboe is getting well-wishers and supporters joining him, and the more the standoff continues, rumors are circulating that, the government could place a curfew in the country. The UDP leader and his entourage attended Friday prayers in the Fass Njaga Choi mosque today. Their spirit is said to be high whilst other opposition leaders weigh what cause of action to take.According to UDP sources, the Fass Njaga Choi is where renegade security officer Bai Lowe hailed from. The villagers are said to be treating the hold up convoy well. The international community are alerted of the continued obstruction of the convoy, says UDP sources.