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| Yahya Jammeh |
THE Gambia’s police chief, Yankuba Sonko, has defended the execution of nine death row prisoners in the tiny West African nation, saying it would make people think twice about committing crimes.
“The tougher the penalties, the more careful people will be when committing crimes,” the police chief told a newspaper yesterday.
“The law on the death penalty was passed by parliament and they foresee the reasons for passing it. We are now at the enforcing side of it and this will go a long way in reducing the crime rate in the country.”
Meanwhile, a rights activist, Trevor Uyi Omoruyi, who is also an international scholar who in the past joined in the fight against the ill treatment of Nigerians in Libya by the then Gadaffi regime, has urged human rights groups to call on President Goodluck Jonathan to intervene in the killings in the Gambia.
No official crime statistics are released by government in the tiny country, which is surrounded by Senegal on three sides except for a strip of Atlantic coast, and has a population of 1.7 million.
Gambia’s President Yahya Jammeh on August 19 announced that all death row prisoners would be executed by mid-September. A week later the first batch of nine convicts were executed by firing squad.
The killings caused international outrage, especially in neighbouring Senegal, which counted two citizens amongst those executed.
Rights groups estimate another 38 convicts face the firing squad, however, no new executions have been announced after a volley of calls from around the world for Banjul to halt the killings.
Omoruyi, who is a doctoral researcher in the United Kingdom (UK), has written to the Nigeria Ambassador to Gambia, Ambassador Esther Audu, calling her to intervene, as the right to life and fair trial of Nigerians in Gambia is her responsibility.
He, however, acknowledged, in a statement to the envoy, the good deeds in the past and expressed expectation that she would act and make the country proud at this time.
Source: The Guardian Nigeria, September 7, 2012
Gambia: Islamic Council Supports Executions
Gambia's highest Islamic body has endorsed President Yahya Jammeh's recent decision to execute nine death row inmates.
The executions on Aug. 24 sparked widespread condemnation around the world. But a number of Jammeh's loyalists have voiced their support, including, on Tuesday, the Gambia Supreme Islamic Council.
The Islamic council said that Jammeh had a mandate to order implementation of the death penalty.
Jammeh has remained silent about his decision to carry out the death penalties. But his supporters have made frequent processions to his offices at State House to express their approval.
Although Jammeh said he planned to execute all the prisoners on death row, there has been no word about what will happen to the 38 remaining prisoners who have been sentenced to death.
Source: AP, September 6, 2012
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