Gambia: Fear rules

Gambia has also ratified the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (African Charter); the Protocol to the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child; the Organization of African Unity (OAU) Convention on Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems; and the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. [...] Under the law the police are under the control of the Secretary of State for the Interior and are responsible for public security. [...] On the evening of 28 March at around midnight I was escorted by five armed men from the army to the NIA and brought in front of a panel of approximately 30 people, all of whom were from the military police, the NIA, the army and the police. [...] The case of the missing journalist was taken to the ECOWAS CCJ in June 2007 and, in a landmark decision, a year later in June 2008 the court ordered the Gambian government to release him from unlawful detention, dismissing the claim that Manneh was not in their custody. [...] Again the NIA and the police denied any knowledge of the whereabouts of the two men, despite sworn affidavits by people who had seen and heard the police and the NIA arrest them and take them away.