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Gambian court rejects Femi Peters’ appeal
Friday, 06 August 2010 17:15
Source: Reuters A court in Gambia has rejected the appeal of opposition politician Femi Peters who was jailed for using a megaphone at a rally without permission, a case that has drawn harsh criticism from foreign donors.
The jailing of Femi Peters, campaign manager of the main opposition UDP party, led to the United States and former colonial power Britain speaking out over concerns about human rights in Gambia, moves which drew an angry rebuke from President Yahya Jammeh who accused them of backing the opposition.
Justice Emmanuel Amadi said Peters had failed to secure permission for the rally and the magistrate was within his rights to sentence him to a year in jail.
"The appeal is hereby denied," Amadi said in a ruling late on Thursday.
Peters has already spent four months in jail.
Gambia, a tiny sliver of land lodged inside Senegal on West Africa's coast, attracts thousands of mainly European tourists to its beaches but its government has long been criticised for its harsh treatment of the opposition and journalists.
The British High Commission in Gambia said in April that it was concerned by the jailing of Peters, saying it had a negative impact on freedom of the expression. The U.S. embassy called the jailing extremely harsh.
Jammeh hit back last month, accusing the West of backing the opposition ahead of elections planned for 2011.
Jammeh has ruled Gambia with an iron fist since coming to power in a 1994 coup.
Last month, a court in Gambia handed down death sentences to eight people, including the former chief of defence staff, former director of the national intelligence agency and two businessmen, convicted of plotting a coup.
They were found guilty of planning to topple the government in a drug-funded plot involving foreign mercenaries. The case followed a waves of arrests and sackings in the country.
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Comments
You wrote "I think the opposition and in particular Darboe and UDP are doing a great job"
I think you are trying to insult our/my intelligence. I put it right for you. Rather than castigate the opposition, the Gambian people should concentrate their energy on the real task at hand I.E .forming a competence, reliable, determined, brave, opposition to challenge Jammeh and MAKE SURE no Gambian human rights are abuse without enormous response much more their own. And how can one forget about the opposition, who are the "REGISTERED POLICE" or reps of a free Gambia. They are simply not up for the Job (except Femi Peters) that the point. You are right; we should realise that to turn to other means, if only they resign to make way for REAL OPPOSITION WITH DIFFERENCE.
The UDP have been kept busy at court at a crucial time. Jammeh is very clever.
The UDP are nothing without Femi Peters.
Darboe should not have stepped foot in that court.It should have been argued by an independant lawyer.
The UDP should have been taken to court..NOT Peters.
Armadi rejected nearly all of Darboe's arguments as irrelevant.
I have to agree...{sadly}
Darboe now looks increasingly incompetant.
Sallah..is the last hope?
This is going to be the case for Gambia when the cells of Mile 2 are emptied,the backwoods of Kanilai excavated for secret graves,army camps searched and the foot soldiers themselves hauled before tribunals to explain to families how their loved ones met their brutal and untimely deaths.
To Mr.Peters and family i can only say be strong and hang on,and to borrow the words of Walt Whitman: "The ravening clouds shall not long be victorious,
They shall not long possess the sky...."
Surely a new day will dawn as it always does for all oppressed people.
Who says there is no madness in Banjul,when a harmless gentleman like Mr.Peters would not be allowed to go about his business as a free citizen by hired legal thugs from Nigeria?
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