Gambia detains two AI staff
2007-10-08 07:27
Banjul - Authorities in Gambia have arrested two foreign workers from rights group Amnesty International on suspicion of spying as they attempted to visit an opposition politician who has been in prison since last year.
Tania Bernath, who held joint British and United States citizenship, and Ayobele Ameen, a Nigerian, were detained some 275km east of the capital Banjul on Saturday.
The two British-based employees of Amnesty International had been holding a human rights workshop for journalists and civil society groups.
They were detained along with Gambian journalist Yaya Dampha, who worked for opposition newspaper, Foroyaa, and who was accompanying them on their trip. Dampha said: "We were detained on suspicion of spying."
Poor record on human rights
He said the group had been hoping to visit Ousman Rambo Jatta, a member of the opposition United Democratic Party who was arrested during elections last year and had been in detention in the town of Fatoto ever since.
The former British colony, a tiny slither of land surrounded by French-speaking Senegal, had a poor record on human rights.
President Yahya Jammeh, a former wrestler and lover of exotic birds, had ruled the country of 1.5 million people since seizing power in a bloodless military coup in 1994.
He brooked little dissent and human rights groups accuse him of jailing his opponents, political repression, and rigging polls - including a landslide victory last year.
He denied the charges.
His administration had detained a number of journalists over the years and press freedom watchdogs accused it of failing to fully investigate the 2004 death of a leading independent newspaper editor shot dead in his car on the way home from work.