 |
| Imam Leigh was arrested last Monday, and is still detained as of yesterday |
Mr. Omar Jallow (OJ), the leader of the opposition People’s Progressive Party (PPP) has called on the authorities to immediately release the Imam of Kanifing East Mosque, Baba Leigh who was arrested on Monday 3rd December 2012.
“Detaining the
outspoken Imam beyond 72 hours and 3 hours without being told of what he is
arrested for and not also being charged of a crime is a violation of his
fundamental human rights as a citizen of this
country,” he told The Voice in an interview on December 8, 2012.
Mr. OJ, who said the
human rights activist religious leader must be immediately released without any
further delay, stressed that since the arrest and subsequent detention of Imam
Baba Leigh on Monday, no family member(s) or his lawyer has had
access to him.
“This is a clear
indication of the lack of respect for the Constitution by the APRC regime,” he
argued.
Media reports say the
Imam is held at the headquarters of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in
Banjul, but it is still not clear why they are holding him, and it is also
unclear if he is to appear in court any time soon.
In September 2012,
the outspoken Imam contributed to a "healthy debate" on an August execution of
nine death row inmates which was widely regarded as “controversial”. He
denounced the executions carried out by The Gambia Government as “Un-Islamic”.
On
Wednesday, December 5, 2012, a high-profile private lawyer Amie Bensouda was
granted police bail following her arrest and subsequent detention.
Sources
told The Voice Newspaper that “madam Bensouda was grilled by the Serious Crime
Unit of the Police for requesting “access to land case records” at the Office
of the Chief Justice.”
Source: The Voice
No comments:
Post a Comment
The views expressed in this section are the authors' own. It does not represent The North Bank Evening Standard (TNBES)'s editorial policy. Also, TNBES is not responsible for content on external links.