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Chief Ebrima Manneh, a victim of enforced disappearance for Four Years
Wednesday, 30 June 2010 01:15
An enforced disappearance takes place when a person is arrested, detained, abducted or subjected to any other form
of deprivation of liberty by agents of the state or by persons or groups of persons acting with the authorization, support or acquiescence of the state, followed by a refusal to acknowledge the deprivation of liberty by concealment of the fate or whereabouts of the disappeared person, with such a person outside the protection of the law.The Gambian Constitution of 1997 has provisions for the protection of fundamental rights and freedoms including freedom of expression, all in entrenched clauses. It also provides for the state of the media according it fair opportunities and facilities for the presentation of divergent and dissenting views.
The Constitution, in chapter IV section 19, the ICCPR Article 9, and the African charter Article 6, all guarantee the rights of everyone to liberty and security, and right not to be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. A person may only be deprived of her or his liberty on grounds and according to procedures laid down by law. Only people authorized to enforce these procedures may carry out arrests, detentions or imprisonments in accordance with the laws.
Under the law, the police are under the control of the Minister of The Interior and are responsible for public security. The National Intelligence Agency (NIA) is responsible for protecting state security in the form of collecting intelligence and conducting covert investigations and reports directly to the president. Both the police and the NIA have powers of arrest and detention. The police are responsible of criminal and civil matters while the NIA is charged with matters of economic crimes state security.
However, in reality the NIA, the police and the army all unlawfully arrests and detain people in the Gambia without arrest warrants as required by the law. Hardly these rules are observed in the Gambia today. People are everyday detained in police cells, the NIA headquarters and Mile 2 prison unlawfully and some victims are subjected to prolonged detention without charge or even enforced disappearances. There are secret detention centers in many parts of the Gambia today, so people can be detained anywhere.
This was the faith of journalist Chief Ebrima Manneh, a reporter at the government-owned Daily Observer, who has been missing since he was arrested on the 7th of July 2006, by three NIA officers at the newspaper’s office. His case was taken to the ECOWAS community court of justice in June 2007 and, in a historic decision , a year later in June 2008 the court ordered the Gambian government to release him from unlawful detention, dismissing the government’s claim that Chief was not in their custody. The court ordered the Gambia government to immediately release him from unlawful detention without any further delay and pay 100,000 Dollars in damages. Up to date, the government of President Jammeh has not complied with this regional court order.
In 2008, the solicitor general revealed to researchers that the government believed Manneh was abducted, claiming that nobody from the government had been involved in his disappearance.
The former speaker of the National Assembly, Fatoumatta Jahumpa Ceesay, for her part, told researchers that Chief is in hiding and that journalists are behind his disappearance, in an attempt to discredit the Jammeh government.
Manneh’s family is more and more in distress. His mother and father said they found it hard to enjoy anything in life because for years the fate of their son is constantly on their mind. Pa Sarjo Manneh, the father, told this reporter that “it is easier to forget about a dead son than a missing son”, because you don’t know the fate of your missing child. The family’s anguish is everyday getting more and more exacerbated.
Manneh who was sighted by this reporter at Fatoto police station in 2006, December, under police custody, was also confirmed been arrested on the 7 July 2006 at the Observer newspaper office. Mr. Ousman Darboe and many other former colleagues of Chief Manneh said he was arrested by NIA officers in their presence.
Whiles some people are speculating that the young man is dead many others believe that he has become a victim of President Yahya Jammeh’s promise.
The president, on 23 September 2006, told the GRTS “let me tell you one thing, the whole world can go to hell. If I want to ban any newspaper I will, with good reasons. This is Africa and here is the Gambia…I don’t believe in killing people. I believe in locking you up for the rest of your life, then maybe at some point I say, Oh, he is too old to be fed by the state; and we release you so that you become a destitute. Then everyone will learn a lesson from you.”
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Comments
Comment
In times of vivid evidences falsehood & fabrications can’t find where to hide…; irony about it is there’s evidence for prosecution. Yaya & cohorts will account for ALL crimes against human person. WHO??? from yaya to ANY supporter, can JUSTIFY Ebrima & family’s current predicament?! What are the bases for argument on justifications of yaya’s suitability as leader much more worth shouting/fussing in defense about like handful of the few of you who show up here in pretence of genuine debate??? Well, how genuine are you?All of you, including yaya jammeh.
If he ever left for work one day and never returned home for 4 years plus,i bet his yadi yadi dumbass thinking will turn into something else!
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