President Jammeh pledged to have all death row inmates executed by mid-September. Photo | BBC | |
The Government of The Gambia Monday confirmed it
killed nine death row prisoners. It said they were killed by firing squad on
Sunday August 26.
The government had earlier denied reports that the
prisoners were executed on the night of August 23, four days after President
Yahya Jammeh vowed “his government will execute all death sentences in the
country by September.”
The inmates are among 47 death row prisoners waiting
to be killed, amid international outcry for their lives to be spared.
“The rule of law as regards the peace and stability
and the protection of lives, property and liberty the release went on, will not
be compromised for whatever reason and that all sentences as prescribed by law
will be carried out to the letter including the death penalty,” Gambia’s
Ministry of Interior said in an August 27 statement.
International response
“We are appalled that the Gambian authorities
carried out the nine executions and urge them to ensure that no further
executions take place,” said Amnesty
International in response to the official confirmation of the killings.
“The death penalty is always the ultimate denial of human rights and in these
cases the government has compounded the inhumanity by giving little or no
notice to either the prisoners or their families.”
Amnesty demanded that “Gambian authorities must
immediately return the prisoners’ bodies to their relatives, and declare an
official moratorium on the death penalty.”
“I strongly
condemn the executions that took place last week in the Gambia, and call for a
halt to further executions,” Mr. Christof Heyns United Nations Special
Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions said.
“This stream of executions is a major step backwards for the country, and for
the protection of the right to life in the world as a whole.”
Markus Löning, the Germany’s Federal
Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy,
said: “I am appalled at reports that nine people were executed in the Gambia at
the weekend. Immediately after the President’s announcement that all prisoners
sentenced to death would be executed, I intervened vis à vis the Embassy of the
Gambia. I requested that no executions be carried out and made clear that
Germany is strongly opposed to the death penalty.”
“I strongly
condemn the executions which have reportedly taken place on Thursday 23 August
2012, following President Jammeh’s stated intention to carry out all death
penalties before mid September,” the High Representative of the European Union
for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Catherine Ashton
said.
“I demand the immediate halt of the executions.”
"The decision of the Gambian President Yahya
Jammeh to execute nine prisoners after more than a quarter of a century without
execution would be a giant leap backwards," Paule Rigaud, Amnesty
International's deputy director for the Africa region said.
Crimes & victims
The Interior Ministry presided by Mr. Ousman Sonko
said the nine: Dawda Bojang, Malang Sonko, Ex-Lieutenant Lamin
Jarjou, Ex-Sgt. alias Ex Lt. Alieu Bah, Ex Sgt. Lamin F Jammeh, Tabara Samba,
Buya Yarbo, Lamin BS Darboe and Gebe Bah were executed for crimes such as murder and
treason which carries the death penalty.
Dawda Bojang, Gambian: Convicted and
sentenced to life imprisonment for murder by Kanifing Magistrates’ Court on 29
August 2007 had his sentence substituted with death on 30 July 2010 following a
dismissed appeal against his life sentence.
Malang Sonko, Gambian: Convicted and sentenced
to death for murder by Brikama Magistrates’ Court on 30 January, 2012 by the
Brikama Magistrates Court. He did not appeal against that verdict.
Ex Lieutenant Lamin Jarjou, Ex Sgt. Alias Ex. Lt. Alieu Bah, and Ex Sgt.
Lamin F. Jammeh, Gambians: Were convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court of the Gambia for
treason, murder on 27 October, 1998. Their appeals dismissed.
Tabara Samba, Senegalese: Convicted and
sentenced to death for murder on 26 September, 2007. Appeal dismissed.
Buba Yarboe, Gambian: Convicted and
sentenced to death by the High Court for murder on 3 November, 2010. He did not
appeal against his sentence and conviction.
Lamin B.S. Darboe, Gambian: Convicted and
sentenced to death on 3 December, 1986. Appeal dismissed on 13 June 1988.
Gebe Bah, Senegalese: Convicted and
sentenced to death for murder on 30 January 2004. His appeal was dismissed.
Background
In an August 19 statement broadcasted on State TV, GRTS to mark the Muslim feast of Eid-al-Fitr, President Jammeh announced to the nation that by
the middle of September all existing death sentences would be “carried out to
the letter”.
38 people are still believed to remain on death row
in the tiny West African country, whose government has been persistently
accused of human rights abuses. The last official execution in the country took
place in 1985.
Before these executions, 22 of the 54 member states
of the African Union were abolitionist in practice including The Gambia, and 16
others were abolitionist in law for all crimes.
Written by Modou S. Joof
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