{"id":41768,"date":"2019-06-27T07:24:10","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T05:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/41768-former-gambian-president-yahya-jammeh-accused-of-rape.html"},"modified":"2019-06-27T07:24:10","modified_gmt":"2019-06-27T05:24:10","slug":"former-gambian-president-yahya-jammeh-accused-of-rape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.justiceinfo.net\/en\/41768-former-gambian-president-yahya-jammeh-accused-of-rape.html","title":{"rendered":"Former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh accused of rape"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three women accuse former Gambian President Yahya Jammeh of rape and sexual assault in a report published on June 26 by Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International. Their testimonies, as well as those of others who worked for Jammeh, describe a system of abuse. The Truth Commission will soon be looking into this.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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It is not the first time that Dakar, the capital of Senegal, has been the scene of shocking revelations about the behaviour of former African dictators. In 2015, during the trial of former Chadian President Hiss\u00e8ne Habr\u00e9, Chadian women publicly testified there about organized sexual violence. One of them claimed to have been raped by Habr\u00e9, a crime for which he was acquitted on appeal. The US-based NGO Human Rights Watch<\/a> (HRW) played a key role in mobilizing victims in the Habr\u00e9 case.<\/p>\n

On 26 June, it was again in Dakar that HRW and Swiss NGO TRIAL International<\/a> announced they had collected several testimonies implicating former Gambian president Yahya Jammeh in direct rape and sexual assault committed during his rule from July 1994 to January 2017.<\/p>\n

Gifts and offers of funding<\/h3>\n

Three women accuse the former president. One of them, Fatou Jallow who is better known as \u201cToufah\u201d, has decided to testify publicly. In 2014, Toufah Jallow, then an 18-year-old drama student, won the main state-sponsored beauty pageant. She received the handsome sum of 50,000 dalasis (about $1,250 in 2015). Shortly afterwards she said she got a call from Jimbee Jammeh, the president\u2019s cousin, asking her to attend an event at State House, she recounts. In her first meeting with Jammeh, together with other contestants, Jammeh \u201cwas very jovial, making jokes about tribes,\u201d she said. \u201cHe said that the purpose of the competition was to empower us. He told us not to get married right away and become housewives. He said \u2018I am going to know about it. I\u2019m not going to be happy about it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

That was followed by an official broadcast on state television with Jammeh and several ministers. The women had to present a charitable project for funding. Toufah Jallow\u2019s was a community poverty alleviation project using drama, according to HRW and TRIAL. Toufah Jallow told them that Jimbee Jammeh repeatedly called her to finish up the project, then invited her to State House. \u201cJimbee [Jammeh]\u00a0did not tell me that I would meet the president,\u201d Toufah said. Once there, she met Yahya Jammeh privately for the first time, together with Jimbee, and talked comfortably while Jimbee lounged nearby. An hour after, Jimbee \u201cbrought a box, with a gold chain inside. She said it was a gift \u2018from us. You deserve more, you are really awesome.\u2019\u201d
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Pressure and promises<\/h3>\n

A week later, Jimbee Jammeh visited Toufah at her home on the outskirts of the Gambian capital Banjul. There she handed her the president on the phone, according to the testimony. \u201cJimbee told me that you don\u2019t have running water in your home\u2026. I\u2019m going to talk to Jimbee to settle that,\u201d the president told her. Soon after, the state company installed running water. Toufah said that Jimbee also bought the family expensive furniture.<\/p>\n

The next time, they had dinner in his apartment, and the conversation became more personal. President Jammeh asked her if she had thought of getting married and if she had a boyfriend. \u201cYou know I\u2019m the president, I can find out anything,\u201d he told her before giving her another 50,000 dalasis \u201cfor the bother of coming and waiting here\u201d. Then he went on the offensive, saying that he wanted to marry her. She said she was too young and not ready. He told her \u201cmaybe you are confused right now, but get back to me\u201d.<\/p>\n

Toufah reported that the next day, Jimbee took her on a tour of villas, saying that the president was ready to give her a villa and a car. She said that Jimbee told her, \u201cHe told you something yesterday and when that becomes possible, that\u2019s yours.\u201d She said Jimbee then changed tone and said, \u201cWhat is wrong with you? Who gets an opportunity like this?\u201d After that, Toufah blocked Jimbee\u2019s number. But in June 2015 she was informed she should go to the presidency for a religious ceremony marking the beginning of Ramadan. It was there that Toufah Jallow was taken \u201cto a room where [Yahya]\u00a0Jammeh soon appeared and later locked her in another room\u201d, according to the report of the two human rights organizations.<\/p>\n

Slaps, death threats and rape<\/h3>\n

HRW and TRIAL recount what happened next as follows:<\/p>\n

\u201cHe told me, \u2018No woman has ever rejected me. And who do you think you are?\u2019\u201d Toufah Jallow said. \u201cHis face changed, his eyes were so red, different from the man before. He said, \u2018No woman rejects me. You think you can get away with it?\u2019\u201d She said he then slapped her, and she fell on a chair: \u201cHe yelled at me, \u2018This could have been nice, because I loved you but you decided to be this feminist girl to me.\u2019\u201d She said that she screamed, and he slapped her, told her to shut up, and then injected her in her arm with a needle. She said she was reaching for the door when he warned, \u201cIf you make any move, I will kill you with my own hands.\u201d He then pulled her dress off, she said, and said \u201cLet\u2019s see if you\u2019re a virgin.\u201d She said he rubbed his genitals in her face and touched them to arouse himself. She screamed that she was dying. \u201cHe said, \u2018This does not kill, it\u2019s fun.\u2019\u201d Toufah Jallow said he then held her hands down and raped her. She said she lost consciousness and when she woke up, Jammeh said, \u201cGet out of here.\u201d<\/p>\n

A few days later, Toufah Jallow fled to Senegal. After meeting with various NGOs and UN agencies she obtained asylum in a third country, where she lives today.<\/p>\n

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Interview with Fatou Jallow by HRW
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