A New Secret Detention Location In Sukuta

By Boy Badjie, Freedom Newspaper Contributor Banjul

Security detainees in The Gambia are on a hunger strike, following their continued detention without trial by the authorities, sources here said. Former Army Chief General Lang Tombong Tamba, EX NIA DG Major Momodou Lamin Badjie, and Deputy IGP Modou Gaye are spearheading the hunger strike. The men refused to eat food served to them by the prison guards. They lament about the illegality about their continued detention without the due process of the law.

The  men who were detained at the NIA Head Quarters in Banjul were transferred to the Mile Two Central Prisons. Family sources said they have lost contacts with the detainees, as no one seems to know their actual whereabouts at this hour.

A top security chief said there is a new detention center in Sukuta, where some of the detainees are being kept. The official said very few people in The Gambia knows about the said secret detention location.

“ We have moved some of the security detainees to Sukuta. This is  where the tortures, and secret killings take place. I am privy to a lot of classified state secrets, which I intend to share with your paper in days to come. I want the world to know about the injustices taking place in The Gambia. General Tamba, and co are being detained illegally. They have good reasons to decline food served to them from Kanilai. There is conspiracy hatched by the President to secretly poisoned them. It is better for them to remain hungry than to eat a poisoned food, “said our source.

Sukuta is not far from the Commercial town of Serrekunda. Our source laments about the appalling conditions of said detention camp. The source adds that some of the inmates appeared weak, and pale.

“ The President is very heartless. I cannot imagine that he would treat people who risked their lives for his Government. That’s Jammeh, he is a betrayer,” he said.

The Government has not advanced any reason for the detention of the said security detainees. It continually detained them without  the right to access to an Attorney,  balanced diet, and medical treatment. 

The Bar Association, which is the country’s main professional lawyers group,  is mute over the right abuses taking place in the country.  The majority of the lawyers here are not keen at working on political cases associated with the Government, with the exception of Lawyer Ousainou Darboe, Antouman Gaye, Borry Touray, Lamin Camara, and Lamin Jobarteh.  The lawyers cite the issue of personal safety, as the Government often crackdown on its perceived opponents.