(JollofNews) – Amnesty International has renewed calls for the immediate and unconditional release of a Gambian radio editor held incommunicado by the APRC regime of President Yahya Jammeh.
Alagie Abdoulaye Ceesay, managing director of the independent Gambian radio station Teranga FM, was rearrested on 17 July by members of the Gambian security forces after being abducted and released earlier on in the month. He has since been held incommunicado without access to his family or a lawyer.
After celebrating the Muslim holiday of Eid ul Fitr that marks the end of Ramadan on 17 July, Mr Ceesay asked a friend to give him a lift to the town of Latrikunda German where he was to meet another friend. When they arrived at the town, he asked his friend to wait for him in the car. 30 minutes later the friend decided to call him as he had not returned, but his phone was off. The friend left.
Alagie Abdoulaye Ceesay’s family visited several police stations close to his home on Monday 20 July after they did not hear from him the entire weekend. He was not at any of the stations. According to an eyewitness, Mr Ceesay was brought to his home in the Sinchu Alagie area in West Coast region on 20 July around 4:00pm. He was accompanied by two men from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), the Gambian secret service. They searched the house and left a few minutes later in a car that was waiting for them outside.
Reliable information indicates that Alagie Abdoulaye Ceesay is being held at the NIA headquarters in Banjul without charge or access to his family or a lawyer. Further, the NIA may have opened an investigation into Alagie.
Amnesty International is concerned for the safety of Alagie Abdoulaye Cessay taking into account that this is the second time in a very short period that he has been detained incommunicado by security forces and the poor health condition in which he was left after his first detention. Amnesty International considers Alagie Abdoulaye Ceesay a prisoner of conscience, detained solely for exercising his right to freedom of expression.
It called on the authorities to immediately provide him with access to his family and lawyers and ensure that he is not subjected to torture or ill-treatment while in detention
