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Momodou
Denmark
11712 Posts |
 Posted - 05 Dec 2012 : 20:53:36
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THE TEMPERATURE IS RISING AGAIN DUE TO HIGH PROFILE ARRESTS
Foroyaa Editorial: Published on Wednesday, 05 December 2012
The arrest and detention of Imam Baba Leigh and a Senior Member of the Bar and former Attorney General, Amie Bensouda has started to heat the temperature in the Country. After the executions, the temperature rose to an immeasurable degree causing the Government to engage in damage control by mobilizing elders from all parts of the Country.
This should have been sufficient to inform the authorities that Nations do not exist in isolation and detention without trial is unacceptable in today's criminal justice system.
Before High profile arrests are made one must be sure that sufficient investigation is done to have enough evidence to charge and take the suspect to court without detaining a person over night. Only allegations of committing heinous crime like murder should lead a state which wants international respect to detain a person overnight who would never abscond.
Those who manage the highest office in this land should know how it feels for young people to invade the privacy of an elder's home, give commands with authority for a person to stop having a dinner or putting on clothes, incite panic among children, drive loved ones to stop everything because of shock, being sandwiched by strangers and whisked away in the dark to a detention Centre without having access to lawyers or family members for days, stay overnight on the floor in dark cells with mosquitoes to keep one's company, wearing the same clothes for days without taking bath, being interrogated and treated like a small child in the hands of a parent -like or big brother-like interrogator and be given the carrot and stick treatment.
Once a national leader who should protect the citizenry with the state power entrusted to him or her knows his or her mission as a leader, one would never take pride in using that state power to humiliate another person on the face of the earth.
We therefore expect detentions overnight without trial for any allegation that is not a heinous crime to stop as long as one could secure police bail.
We also expect, the bar association to meet and discuss the arrest of Barrister Bensouda and negotiate her release with immediacy. If Lawyers cannot protect their own members, how will the public have trust in the profession? The state authorities should take note of the fact that the quickest way to kill the legal profession in a Country is to detain members of the legal profession with impunity. Members of the legal profession require a measure of immunity even if it is not stipulated in the law to enable them to protect the rights of others.
The Supreme Islamic Council went to visit state house to convey their concerns on the death penalty, it is now their turn to visit state house to prevent any maltreatment of Imam Baba Leigh and facilitate his release.
The Government of the Gambia has a choice to ignore what is being said on line and go ahead with the business of governing and ignore whatever happens or concentrate on all the threats and become paranoid and make life difficult for everyone who coughs. As the saying goes cowards die many times before their death but villains taste death once.
Speculations are rife as to why the high profile arrests were made. The authorities ought to come up with the charges immediately to do away with the speculations. The Ba Kawsu route is not the option in this case. The international outcry would be deafening if it takes that route.
Source: Foroyaa
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11712 Posts |
Posted - 06 Dec 2012 : 17:20:25
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HIGH PROFILE DETENTIONS WITHOUT TRIAL
DETENTION WITHOUT TRIAL AND WITHOUT ACCESS TO LEGAL COUNSEL AND FAMILY MEMBERS MUST STOP!
PDOIS Statement
Issued by HalifaSallah
Israel had to stop its plan to invade Gaza. The backers of M23 had to ask them to withdraw their troops from GOMA. The Tuaregs and other combatants had to join the negotiating table. This is an era for governments that listen to the demands of time and circumstances not those that bury their heads in the dust. The Governments that could survive this era are those that make it a principle to have one foot in office and the other out of office. In that way one’s stay in office would be welcomed by the people and one’s departure would be a dignified exit that would earn one a dignified life out of office.
Three months ago, the Gambia was the focus of diplomatic and media attention which culminated with threats of insurrection. The executions even created a dent in Senegalo-Gambian Interstate relations which has not recovered until now. Never in the history of Senegal and The Gambia has the relation between the two states gone to such a level that an armed group could openly use the soil of one of the countries to declare an armed insurrection against the other.
The Gambian state reacted by receiving delegations from all over the country and the world. The compromises eventually led to an uneasy peace which could only be nurtured by respect for fundamental rights, tolerance of divergent views, electoral reform and good governance.
There is no doubt that any detention without trial and deliberate disappearances where family members and legal counsels are kept at bay or deliberately misinformed about a person’s whereabouts is likely to lead to National and international outcry.
No human being is above the law but every human being is also entitled to protection of the law. Imam Manjang was once arrested, detained and subjected to degrading treatment. Eventually he was released without charge or trial. Imam Ba KawsuFofana was arrested and detained and subjected to degrading treatment and was later released without charge or trial. Arresting prominent personalities with social responsibility only to subject them to degrading treatment and release them without charge or trial undermines the integrity of a criminal justice system and constitutes a gross violation of the right to personal security that should not be condoned by any human being with conscience. Every person has the right to liberty, dignity and security of persons and each should act towards the other in the spirit of sovereign equality, no matter what position one occupies. No one should be subjected to arbitrary arrest and detention. No one who is not convicted and sentenced to imprisonment should be forced to eat or drink what one does not choose to eat or drink in a detention centre.
A person who is arrested should be able to see a legal counsel within three hours of arrest and should have access to family members; clean clothes and food from home. Even people who are remanded in custody have access to food, clothing and visits. It is inhuman and degrading to the extreme to keep brothers and sisters, wives and husbands, sons and daughters in the dark while their loved one is kept incommunicado for days.
Gambia is a country that gives high respect to elders and religious leaders. The religious leaders lead them in prayers; preside over their marriages, burials and naming ceremonies. They play major roles in the social fabric of society. The elders also carry similar functions.
In the same vein, lawyers are seen as protectors of rights. When one is under arrest the first thing that relatives think about is how to get legal counsel to facilitate the release of the person arrested on police bail. If lawyers themselves could be detained overnight in police headquarters, what confidence could the people have in them?
PDOIS is convinced that a Government which is paranoid must become tyrannical as it tries to clamp down on every one who coughs in the name of promoting internal security. In actual fact tyrannical acts only serve to legitimise dissent of an extremist type. Here in lies the folly of tyranny. It is unleashed to frighten to maintain security but it ends up infuriating the most apathetic element of society and sows the seed of vengeance and revulsion. In fact, those arrested for dissent and expression of opinion end up having sympathizers and visitors in large numbers. It is the Government that loses in any case of detention without trial. A government that suppresses rather than tolerates dissent is likely to be frightened by its own shadows. Such governments like all cowards will die a thousand times before their death. The Valiant never taste of death but once Power belongs to no single individual. It is entrusted by the owners to leaders for a specific
time. One must not strive to maintain it at any price.
As the families of Imam Baba Leigh hunger to be reunited with them, we in PDOIS call on the Gambia Government to abide by the following conduct:
1.) Abandon arbitrary arrest and detention without trial
2.) Provide access to legal counsel and family members in case of arrest
3.) No degrading punishment or treatment while in custody
4.) Arrests be effected by the police and intelligence officers be involved only in cases of armed insurrection
5.) Proper investigation before arrest to avoid keeping detainees over night without charge
6.) Speedy end to investigations and closure of cases
We have monitored the situation and found out that Lawyer Amie Bensouda is conditionally released . She is to report to the police. We call on the authorities not to prolong any case that does not have merit. Clients suffer when lawyers are required to report on bail. Imam Baba Leigh is with the NIA. Today is the 72 hour deadline. We call on the Government to exercise tolerance and release him unconditionally. We call on the Islamic council to meet the Government and reach an agreement so that no Imam would be put under custody without their prior knowledge. We call on the bar association to enter into the same negotiation with the Attorney General so that members of the bar would be given the respect due. PDOIS will continue to monitor the conduct of the government and take all appropriate measures to ensure that the rights of our sovereign people are protected and their liberty and dignity inviolable.
Any government that does not have it as its primary aim to enlarge the sovereignty, liberty, dignity and prosperity of our people is not fit to govern. History, that great writer of events is standing in judgment. It will have its say. It will condemn some and absolve others. Each Gambian has a duty to decide on which side of history one is going to stand. The future will tell.
The End |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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