The Imam-Ratib of Mandinaring Village in Kombo North District, West Coast Region, has accused an officer of the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) of assaulting one of his Arabic students before arresting him.
Speaking during a visit by Interior Minister Abdoulie Sanyang to the family of the late Omar Badjie, Imam Alhagie Omar Jarjue said the incident unfolded in his compound while his student was preparing Ataya (green tea).
“The leader of the PIU came into my compound and apprehended my Arabic student who was brewing Ataya for me,” Imam Jarjue told the gathering. “It was the leader of the PIU officers who did this act. I will not lie, and I am speaking between myself and God.”
The Imam said he confronted the officer after witnessing the alleged assault.
“I hit him on his shoulder and asked him to fear his Lord and remember that it was God who made it possible for him to wear the uniform, and if He wished, He could take it away from him,” he recounted.
Imam Jarjue insisted that the student had no link to any protests in the village and was simply with him at the time.
“Imagine my student who came to seek knowledge and was never part of any protest. He was just sitting, brewing Ataya with me. The PIU officer said my student was running, but I asked him if he was on the street or at home? He slapped my student and insisted on arresting him. I left everything in the hands of God,” the Imam added.
The meeting, held in Mandinaring, was attended by Interior Minister Abdoulie Sanyang, West Coast Region Governor Ousman Bojang, Presidential Youth Adviser Lamin K. Saidy, and a representative of the Gambia Supreme Islamic Council (GSIC).
