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Rights activist calls on Gambia, US to shed light on detention of Gambian by US authorities
Tuesday, 25 May 2010 22:18
By Abdoulie JohnSheikh E.T. Lewis (Snr), President of the Gambia Section of the International Society for Human Rights (ISHR), has noted with concern that Gambian and US authorities have not yet made any
pronouncement concerning Salieu Badjan, a Gambian national arrested one month back in Puerto Rico, for being a "potential person of interest". Lewis called on the authorities of both countries to “shed light on the charges leveled against Badjan and to respect the right of the detainee.”
“It is very sad that up till now the Gambia government, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, did not make any pronouncement on the issue. It is sad that also the US authorities, through their Embassy in Banjul, didn’t do such a thing,” he lamented.
The human rights activist also told JollofNews that the complete blackout prevailing on Salieu Badjan’s case constitutes a poor way of communicating.
“This blackout is not right!” he said. He singled out the United States of America for double standard as the information was flowing wh
en the 23-year old Nigerian man was arrested on Christmas Day while attempting to blow up a packed airplane on the way to the American city of Detroit. “There is a bias attitude here, and this cannot be accepted,” Mr Lewis voiced out.
Contacted by this reporter, Mr. Barry L. Wells, US plenipotentiary to Gambia, declined to make any comment with regard to Salieu Badjan’s arrest.
Salieu Badjan, who boarded a West Africa-to-New York flight, was arrested for questioning on Thursday 22nd April, 2010 after been added to the U.S. no-fly list. Since he was apprehended by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Puerto Rico nothing has come out of the inquiry. A surprising situation that has left more Gambians skeptical about the reasons that led to his continuous detention.
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