 |
| Dr. Janneh |
One
activist, Dr Amadou Scattred Janneh, the country’s former Minister for
Information and Communication, was yesterday sentenced to life
imprisonment with hard labour for treason. Modou Keita, Ebrima Jallow
and Michael Uche Thomas were each sentenced to three years with hard
labour for sedition.
 |
| The Four |
The four
were arrested in June 2011 after distributing T-shirts made by the NGO
‘Coalition for Change – The Gambia’ (CCG) which featured the slogan “End
to Dictatorship Now”.
“The
conviction of these men is a violation of their rights to freedom of
expression, assembly and association,” said Lucy Freeman, Amnesty
International’s researcher on the Gambia.
“President
Jammeh is once again proving that he does not tolerate any form of
criticism and is ruthlessly persecuting anyone who speaks out against
his regime.”
Dr
Amadou Scattred Janneh, who has American citizenship, was arrested in
his office on 7 June for being in possession of the CCG T-shirts.
Michael Uche Thomas, a Nigerian, and Modou Keita and Ebrima Jallow, both
Gambians, were arrested on the same day, accused of printing the
T-shirts.
The four
men were sentenced at the Special Criminal Court in Banjul. Charges
were initially brought at the Banjul Magistrate Court on 13 June and the
case was later transferred to the High Court.
“These
men are prisoners of conscience and must be released immediately and
unconditionally. Gambia must stop such acts of persecution and allow
criticism to be heard in the country,” said Lucy Freeman.
Journalists
and activists in Gambia, are routinely subjected to human rights
violations such as unlawful arrests and detentions, torture, unfair
trials, harassment, assaults and death threats, making it extremely
difficult for them to do their work.
Amnesty
International has urged the international community to publicly condemn
human rights violations in the Gambia, such as arbitrary arrests,
torture, extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearance
Notes to editors
According
to CCG spokesperson Ndey Tapha Sosseh, “The Coalition for Change – The
Gambia is an organization with the objectives of ending The Gambia’s
dictatorship and as well as the climate of fear that has so consumed
Gambian society.”
SOURCE
Amnesty International
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