Gambian police charge human rights activist
Banjul, Gambia (PANA) - Madi Jobarteh, one of Gambia’s leading human rights activists faces a “false publication and broadcasting” charge pressed by Gambian police and he was expected to report to a police station on Wednesday, PANA confirmed in Banjul.
According to sources, Mr. Jobarteh was “invited” by officers stationed at Kairaba Police Station in Gambia’s commercial city of Serre Kunda on Tuesday where he was questioned and asked to write a statement before being charged.
According to Mr. Jobarteh, he was subjected to questioning by deputy police commissioner Pateh Bah on remarks he made against the way and manner the Barrow Government handled a number of murder cases that occurred recently.
“Bah said the reason for the invitation was to ask me to shed light on my comments that government did not do enough to ensure justice for the late Haruna Jatta, Ousainou Darboe and Kebba Secka. He thought that was unfair to the police because I did not know what was going on in the background,” Jobarteh noted in a statement.
The activist revealed that he in turn asked the senior police officer, if he was really serious to have called him to his office, only to question his (Jobarteh’s) opinion and that the move was an assault on his fundamental constitutional right.
Following the incident, scores of human rights activists and Gambians have roundly condemned the move as a sign of intimidation tactics widely used during the 22-year-long dictatorship that ended in the tiny West African nation a few years ago.
-0- PANA MLJ/AR 1July2020
