More to an Imam than Leading Prayer Congregations

Dr Isatou Touray flanked on the right by Dr Hassan Shire Sheikh receives the Award for Baba Leigh (Photo Credit: Sainey MK Marenah)

When Imam Baba Leigh was declared winner of the first-ever pan-African human rights defenders award, broad smiles and loud cries of joy simultaneously filled Kairaba hotel’s giant Jaama Hall peopled by hundreds of human rights defenders from across Africa and beyond. 
 

The atmosphere was emotionally charged, especially for rights activist Dr Isatou Touray who, like Baba Leigh, has had her share of the repression in Gambia, a country once known to be a model of democracy in Africa.

Scrubbing up dry tears in her face, she tells me: “I cried because I’m happy. I went through a long road of reflection. We’ve suffered a lot. He [Baba Leigh] was incarcerated for no just cause.”