(JollofNews) – Authorities in Gambia have detained the former head of the National Intelligence Agency, a body human rights groups say tortured and killed perceived opponents of former leader Yahya Jammeh, who went into exile last month after losing an election.
The former director general of the agency, Yankuba Badgie, and its ex-director of operations, Sheikh Omar Jeng, were arrested on Monday, police spokesman Foday Conta said on Tuesday.
Jammeh set up the agency the year after he seized power in a coup in 1994 and it gained a reputation as the state’s most feared institution.
The government of President Adama Barrow, who defeated Jammeh in an election in December, stripped the agency of its powers of arrest, changed its name to the State Intelligence Agency and pledged to reform it further.
Monday’s arrests are the first of senior Gambian officials since Jammeh went into exile in Equatorial Guinea under pressure from regional leaders who deployed troops to Gambia in a bid to force him to leave power.
Gambian police said this week they had arrested 51 people in a former Jammeh stronghold for harassing Barrow’s followers.
(Reporting by Lamin Jateh and Pap Saine; Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)
Source: Reuters
Great news. Anyone found wanting should face justice. The thugs at the NIA have committed heinous crime against perceived opponents of the APRC regime, hopefully one by one they should all pay for the atrocities committed against innocent people .
Right move. Justice needs to be done. People cant get away with killings.
GOOD LEADERSHIP IS MEASURED BY ITS COMPASSION AND EGALITARIAN QUALITIES NOT ITS CRUELTY TOWARD ITS PERCEIVED OPPONENTS:
Let us all be mindful in our seemingly gleeful celebration of the news of the arrest of one Yabkuba Badjie alleged to have Being involved in the alleged killings of those arrested by NIA, the Gambia’s Internal Security Service. Being arrested and charged is not Synonymous with guilt. The Officials should also be mindful in their Public and Private Comments and Opinions about the Case as well as the guilt or lack of it. Any Country with a rudimentary Legal and Judicial System will find it impossible to find an Acused guilty in a Fair and Impartial Trial, if the Officials within the Government imply, infer, implicitly or explicitly that the Acused are guilt without the benefit of a Trial within a Law Court. It would render any Verdict Prejudicial, Tainted and “Spoiled Fruit”, and thus, Should be thrown out and Nullified. That does not mean that the Acused cannot be tried again. Far from it. They can be. However, they cannot be tried for the Same Crimes that they were found not guilty of. This is due to the Double Jeopardy Rule. They may be charged on other Charges, if and when such Charges are deemed Prosecutable based on Solid Evidence, not on Conjecture, Hear say, and Rumour. The evidence must be Corroborated and meet the Legal Standards required by Law. There is a tendency to get into a Mob Rule State and “Rail road” alleged Accused persons of Crimes such as Torture, Murder and Extra- Judicial killings as a means of Settling Scores. Such Kneejerk, Impulsive and Unlawful approach to addressing and resolving alleged Abuses need to be Avoided so as not to create and generate an Opposite and Equal Negative Reaction to what otherwise, would be received by most Fair minded Gambians a “Lawful Exercise” of the available means of dispensing “Justice”. Party Militants and Mouthpiece of any and all Political Parties should be Cautioned about their Unconditional and Unrestrained No holds barred and Wholesale Condemnation and Demonization of all Jolas and all former President Yaya Jammeh’s APRC Officials and Supporters. Gambia is not a One Party State and has never been such a State. The fact that a given Party or Ethnic Interest Group Party is in power, does not Greenlight that Party or Ethnic Interest Group to engage in a Witch hunt of its Own. That would be a grave mistake and would come to hunt us all. Let’s Conduct ourselves in a manner that is Consistent with Compassion, Due diligence and Honesty, Wrapped in Accountability, Transparency and Responsibility and Care toward all Gambians. In ourvCollective grieve and guilt, let us as Gambians endeavor to exercise Restraint, Common sense in thought and behavior, least we become what we Accused others we sit in judgement against. That would be a travesty of Justice and Color our Gambia in a perpetual color of grieve and pain. We do not want to Pass on such a Legacy to Gambians yet unborn. Gambia is more than the Sum total of One Individual, One Ethnic Group, or Region. One Gambia One People, One Destiny.
@Sidi, I thought you might have lost just two senses but I wonder now if you have not lost a third one. Are on the verge of giving important testimonies or you are being haunted by what parts you might have played in the past in Yaya’s regime of terror.
Are you really serious in your boldened first sentence? I swear SQUEALER have not said anything mishievious like it in his life. Never in his life as Napoleon’s mouthpiece.
Gentlemen, you are certainly welcome to your views and continued support for Yahya Jammeh regime, but I honestly can’t figure out why you find it necessary to insult the memory of the innocent Gambians that died by Yahya’s will and Yankuba’s hands.