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Confessions?

I have been busy trying to get a project up and running. The corporate masters have been cracking the whip to get this thingy up and humming. Thus the lull in postings. Needless to say, I am behind in current events, email boxes flowing with mail to read and so little time.

The Daily Observer ( here and here) has a rundown of confessionals that the "alleged" coup plotters in the Gambia made. Yep, that's right "alleged". For all, we know these people could've been tortured or threaten with torture to make those statements. Their confessionals, in my opinion, lend credence to my suspicion. All roads in this convoluted affair lead to Ndure Cham. Everyone keeps harking back to what he told them. And since he is not around to refute them and the government is hellbent on punishing someone, they parade these people on television to narrate some scheme that they were supposedly part of.

Which brings me to another peeve of mine with this whole alleged coup. Why is the government putting these alleged coup plotters on television and televising their confessional before they appear in front of a judge? Doesn't that act undermines their due process rights? If you made someone to confess to a crime by threats either implicit or explicit without judicial oversight, isn't that in effect a violation of the law? Damn, I forgot. For a minute I thought we are dealing with a government that respects the rule of law.

Talking of torture, I guess I wasn't hallucinating after all. Reading through some of my mail before posting this meme, I came across this article in the Foroyaa newspaper:


The family members reported that the arresting team mainly composed of State Guards and Police Intervention Unit personnel who dehumanized the arrestees.

According to Captain Yaya Darboe's family members, he was later put in chains and beaten before being carried away. Lai Conteh's neighbours said the nature of his arrest was inhumane in that he was tied before being carried away. Mr. Kemo Balajo's wife, who is said to be about eight months pregnant, was said to have had a confrontation with the arresting team when they started searching Balajo's house, looking for his military uniforms. The members of the NIA normally wear military fatigues during such operations. Mr. Balajo's wife could not bear the ransacking of their house. She is said to have rushed in and come out with the military uniforms and threw them at the officers.

RSM Alpha Bah is said to have been brutally manhandled. Sources said he was tied and thrown inside a black American car. The two military police commanders were also reported to have been handcuffed and carried away. Daba Marenah's family said he was arrested on Tuesday night at his home by the soldiers. Lamin Kassama, a security at the Civil Aviation Authority was said to have been arrested at his home in Brikama Nema where he was handcuffed and put in a military pickup on Wednesday morning. Captain Bunja Darboe was said to be found in his house in Fajara while taking his breakfast. He is said to have been handcuffed while the family members and neighbours stood staring at the scene.
This goes to show their state of mind when they made those confessionals. They have been beaten and threaten with further violence unless they confess to treason. These men are not dummies. If they are part of a coup plot that failed, why in the world will they be languishing in the Gambia just so they could be arrested? They would have split and run for the border into Senegal. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. But what else do you expect in a dictatorship?

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