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Momodou
Denmark
11717 Posts |
 Posted - 12 Nov 2012 : 23:01:24
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Gamcotrap Two Freed At Last
By Binta A. Bah
Daily News: Published on Monday, November 12, 2012
 Two prominent women right workers got their freedom from the Banjul Magistrate Court today after almost three long years of trial. Dr Isatou Touray Director of GAMCOTRAP and Mrs Amie Bojang Sissoho programme coordinator of the same organisation were found not guilty of the crimes there were accused of. Banjul Magistrate has found the two not guilty of stealing €30, 000.00 as alleged by the state. 
Dr. Isatou Touray, Executive Director and Amie Bojang Sissoho, Programme coordinator, of The Gambia committee for Traditional Practices (GAMCOTRAP) have been on trial for almost two years.
They were accused of stealing €30, 000.00 provided by YALOCAMBA SOLIDARIDAD, a Spain-based NGO. They denied any wrong doing.
They were arrested and detained in 2010, arraigned on the next day but the presiding magistrate Emmanuel Nkea refused them bail and remanded them in custody at the Female Wing of Mile Two Prisons for eight days.
They are the first women’s rights activist to be trial in the history of the Gambia.
Women’s rights activists after the verdict, said "justice has been done"
Reading out the verdict, magistrate Taiwo Ade Alagbe said Dr Touray and Amie Bojang Sissoho had not been found guilty in connection with the allegation because the prosecution had failed to prove its case beyond reasonable doubt.
Taiwo Ade Alagbe said the court was satisfied that Dr Touray and Amie Bojang Sissoho did not used the said money for their personal income.
He added that the director of YALOCAMBA SOLIDARIDAD as a key witness acted ‘very’ unprofessional when she sent 1000 Euros after the breach of contract after the first phase of the project.
The atmosphere which greeted their acquittal and discharge was filled with delight. The crowed of relatives and sympathisers breathed a sigh of relief when the verdict was read out while others brandishing placards reading: ‘praise to Allah’ as tears rolled.
On the trial
Eight state witnesses, including ex-circumcisers, police officer and the director of YALOCAMBA SOLIDARIDAD testified while the accused persons called four witnesses.
The two have over the years been very active and effective in the promotion of women and children’s rights particularly as they relate to female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and other discriminatory practices.
GAMCOTRAP is one of the lead organizations working in the area of women and girl’s empowerment, FGM and other harmful practices that affect the lives and circumstances of women and girls in the Gambia. GAMCOTRAP’s years of struggle and countess efforts have contributed significantly to be development of women and girls in the Gambia and elsewhere and has led to over 100(one hundred) circumcisers dropping their knives publicly and abandoning the practice.
Source: Daily News
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11717 Posts |
Posted - 14 Nov 2012 : 10:49:43
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ACQUITTAL AND DISCHARGE OF GAMCOTRAP DUO
Foroyaa Editorial: Published on Tuesday, 13 November 2012
The Courts are not only simply instruments of coercion that impose a reign of terror on a population they are supposed to be the custodian of justice. Foroyaa welcomes the acquittal and discharge of the GAMCOTRAP DUO.
There is no doubt that the case was a civil matter and should not have been taken up as a criminal case. Unless African Countries and institutions fail to establish standards that are comparable to any country in the world the African people would not know peace, dignity and respect.
The case should be a lesson to the state. It should be clear that criminal cases incur a lot for the state and those accused. If one calculates the legal fees, the transportation of witnesses by both the prosecution and the accused, the number of well wishers who must be present at all times to give solidarity, the number of office hours that are put in by magistrates and judges and the security personnel, and all other costs one should be able to conceive the enormous losses incurred by all parties when a wrong case is taken to court.
We therefore hope that such cases will now become history along with cases which emerge from petitioning the executive which is a fundamental right enshrined in the Constitution.
Section 25 subsection (1) reads:
"Every person shall have the right to freedom to petition the Executive for redress of grievances and to resort to the Courts for the protection of his or her rights."
Source: Foroyaa
Related: GAMCOTRAP DUO ACQUITTED AND DISCHARGED |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11717 Posts |
Posted - 16 Nov 2012 : 14:06:13
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Justice prevails in a two year-long judicial harassment case against two Women Human Rights Defenders
The Daily News: Published on Friday, November 16, 2012
 Paris-Geneva, November 14, 2012. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), welcomes the vindication of two women human rights defenders in The Gambia following two years of judicial harassment.
On November 12, 2012, the Banjul Magistrates' Court decided to drop all charges against Dr. Isatou Touray and Ms. Amie Bojang-Sissoho, respectively Executive Director and Programme Coordinator of The Gambia Committee on Traditional Practices Affecting the Health of Women and Children (GAMCOTRAP), an organisation working on sexual and reproductive health and rights of women and children. The two women human rights defenders had been prosecuted since October 2010 on charges of “theft” for the alleged embezzlement of 30,000 Euros received in 2009 from “Yolocamba Solidaridad”, a Spanish development NGO.
This landmark decision puts an end to an uninterrupted judicial harassment that had been going on for more than two years, since the police started interrogations of GAMCOTRAP staff in May 2010. Since the opening of their trial, Dr. Isatou Touray and Amie Bojang-Sissoho had been summoned to 66 hearings, which took place in a hostile atmosphere and on completely unlawful grounds. Indeed, the alleged victims had never filed a complaint and the Prosecution failed to present sufficient evidence that they had indeed committed a criminal offence. Furthermore, on January 31, 2011, Ms. Begoña Ballestros Sanchez, Director of Yolocamba Solidaridad, denied accusing anyone associated with GAMCOTRAP of theft and submitting a complaint in relation thereof during a hearing at Banjul Magistrate’s Court. During interrogation, Ms. Isatou Touray had to respond to very precise questions by the Prosecutor covering all aspects of GAMCOTRAP's activities, staff and resources that are unrelated to the charges. In addition, the Prosecutor also repeatedly made depreciating comments about the work of GAMCOTRAP's programme to eradicate female genital mutilation.
The Observatory welcomes this decision and thanks all the persons, institutions and organisations who intervened in favour of Dr. Isatou Touray and Ms. Amie Bojang-Sissoho. More generally, the Observatory hopes that their acquittal marks a step forward in the respect of the rights of human rights defenders in the Gambia
Source: OMCT |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11717 Posts |
Posted - 23 Nov 2012 : 12:38:14
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GAMCOTRAP: AN END TO A LONG JOURNEY FOR JUSTICE
By Amie Bojang Sissoho
The Daily News: Published on Thursday, November 22, 2012
We give thanks and appreciation to Almighty Allah Subhanahu watalla, our families, friends, partners and well wishers for being with us all through this tribulation that Allah has bestowed upon us. We give glory to the highest, the king of Kings, Giver and Reckoner of who does what. The Lord Almighty has redeemed us from all darkness and brought the light to the public that we are not guilty of the false allegation.
We were requested by the National Drug Enforcement Agency/National Intelligence Agency to report to the Police Headquarters in Banjul. After a long wait without any explanation, we were led into a cage at the police station where we spent the night on a mattress infested with lice and bugs. The following day after 2pm, we were charged at the Banjul Magistrate Court and denied bail on the grounds that we are influential women and would interfere with the investigation. We were taken to the Central Prison in mile two and remanded for nine good days.
We were arraigned on the 12th October 2010 on two counts of theft and fraudulent accounting by the State and prosecuted for these allegations for 25 months in 66 appearances in the Banjul Magistrate Court. Before then we were made to be reporting to the NDEA at Holgam in Kanifing every week for six months before our trial began.
As Rights Activists we went through the process without any interference and finally the truth emerged that both of us were not guilty and were acquitted and discharged by the presiding Magistrate Taiwo Ade Alagbe on the 12th of November 2012. Praise be to the Lord and thanks for upholding justice.
To Amie Bensouda and Co, GAMCOTRAP owes you gratitude for accepting to represent us especially in a case in which the State had interest. You have revealed your legal scholarship indeed a legal luminary of the finest class and a genre of your own. We commit you to the Lord of Lords.
To the International Community, International Observers and Human Rights Institutions all over the world we thank you for the concern and interest in seeing that justice is done.
To all the witnesses in this case, particularly the circumcisers from the rural areas we thank you for not only being astute and steadfast in bringing out the truth but also standing by it. This process has shown how successful our advocacy to eliminate FGM is.
We thank the public for their interest in following up the case from the beginning to the end and the media houses for relaying the court proceedings for the world to know what was going on.
To the members of the first investigation panel that GAMCOTRAP never knew until we met them during the interrogation and we never met them again until we heard about their dismissal after the submission of their findings. May Allah reward you and take you to higher heights for revealing the truth. We have no powers but GOD has and will recompense you for upholding the truth.
To our allies, development partners, institutions and activists all over the world, thank you.
We want to put in the record that we are very grateful to our partners including the Spanish NGOs who have supported the work of GAMCOTRAP in the fight against FGM and had successfully completed the projects and a dropping of the knife ceremony was organized to celebrate the circumcisers. This will remain in the history of the Gambia and we are proud to be associated with these projects. The projects were not meant for Isatou and Amie, they were meant to promote the health and well being of women and children and to protect them from harmful traditional practices. Our appreciation goes to the Region of Madrid and Asturias and other Spanish donors who made these projects successful through their funding.
GAMCOTRAP wants to inform the Spanish donors that we have not received the 10 million Dalasis approved for the second phase for the organization from Yolocamba Solidaridad which was meant to scale up our activities to eliminate FGM. We therefore urge the donors to our project to note that we have no obligation to account for such money which was never received.
This case has a lot of lessons for development practitioners to draw from. We want to put in record that GAMCOTRAP does not intend to engage in retributive justice but will go on with its work undeterred. For those who in one way or the other have a hand in this process, we leave all the things to Allah. We believe that it was the will of Allah and we must go through it. It is Allah who guided the process and made it what is it. It is Allah who interceded.
To our husbands, children and our relatives, we say walk with your heads high and be confident that your wives and parents are not thieves. We believe in women and children’s rights and that is what we stand for. Female Genital Mutilation affects the bodily integrity and dignity of women. Children and women’s rights should be respected, protected and promoted.
To the staff and volunteers of GAMCOTRAP, we say thank you for standing by the organization when many had doubt in what we stand for. You have proven that GAMCOTRAP is a legacy for the promotion and protection of women and children’s rights.
WE FORGIVE AND PRAY THAT ALLAH WILL CONTINUE TO PROTECT THOSE WHO WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE FOR HUMANITY.
Dr. Isatou Touray, Executive Director
Mrs. Amie Bojang-Sissoho,Programme Coordinator
Source:  GAMCOTRAP |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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