\n The Gambian government said Wednesday it will prosecute former dictator Yahya Jammeh for murder, rape, torture and other alleged crimes committed under his more than 20-year rule.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Ministry of Justice said it accepted all but two of the 265 recommendations made by a commission that probed alleged crimes committed by the state under the despotic former leader from July 1994 to January 2017.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jammeh is living in exile in Equatorial Guinea, which has no extradition treaty with The Gambia.\n<\/p>\n
\n The government said it would prosecute all 70 alleged perpetrators named in the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission's twice-delayed report, including former vice president Isatou Njie-Saidy and members of the so-called \"Junglers\" hit squad.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"For 22 years, Yahya Jammeh ruled The Gambia with an iron fist,\" the government wrote in a white paper.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"During his regime, extrajudicial killings, rape, torture, enforced disappearances, and numerous grievous human rights violations became part and parcel of his military Junta.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Abdoulie Fatty, a former local legal consultant for the commission, called the government's decision \"unprecedented\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This level of acceptance of recommendations by government is extraordinary,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The fact that there is strong emphasis for the prosecution of Jammeh and those who bear the greatest responsibility sends a strong message that government is serious about pursuing him and ensuring that he's held accountable for his crimes.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The government said it was developing a \"prosecution strategy\" and would set up a special court located within The Gambia, with \"the option of holding sittings in other countries\".\n<\/p>\n
\n The truth commission had recommended prosecuting Jammeh and his accomplices in an internationalised tribunal in another West African country.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Impunity is a kind of incentive that we are not prepared to serve perpetrators,\" Justice Minister Dawda Jallow said in a speech Wednesday.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Their resolve to commit these atrocities cannot be stronger than our collective will as a society to hold them to account.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Not much choice' -\n<\/p>\n
\n The truth commission found that 240 to 250 people, including AFP journalist Deyda Hydara, were killed by the state during the eccentric ex-leader's rule.\n<\/p>\n
\n Rights activists accuse Jammeh, who turned 57 on Wednesday, of a litany of crimes, from using death squads to sponsoring witch hunts.\n<\/p>\n
\n The former president has also been accused of administering phony HIV \"treatment\" programmes and of the massacre of some 50 African migrants in 2005.\n<\/p>\n
\n The commission recommended prosecuting the former president and 69 other alleged perpetrators. The government had until Wednesday to respond.\n<\/p>\n
\n Jammeh was forced into exile in early 2017 after his shock electoral defeat to current President Adama Barrow and a six-week crisis that led to military intervention by other West African states.\n<\/p>\n
\n Barrow, who was re-elected in December, last year formed a political alliance with Jammeh's former party and nominated two known Jammeh supporters as speaker and deputy speaker of parliament.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Barrow and his government know that the world is watching, [so] they did not have much choice but to accept the TRRC recommendations,\" said Nana-Jo N'dow, the founder of an NGO that campaigns against enforced disappearances and summary executions, whose own father disappeared in 2013.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The question now is whether Barrow follows through on these recommendations, and swiftly.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Important and meaningful step forward' -\n<\/p>\n
\n Michele Eken, a West Africa researcher with Amnesty International, said she hoped the justice ministry will have enough resources to \"do the job properly\".\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The fact that the minister held a press conference and reassured victims and civil society is a positive step and we really hope that the minister will stay its course,\" she said.\n<\/p>\n
\n The government said it would prosecute Jammeh for the rape of the beauty queen Fatou Jallow, the murder of journalist Hydara and the unlawful disappearances of other victims.\n<\/p>\n
\n For Fatoumatta Sandeng, spokeswoman for the Jammeh2Justice campaign, Wednesday's announcement is just the next step in a long healing process.\n<\/p>\n
\n Her own father, Ebrima Solo Sandeng, a member of the opposition United Democratic Party, was tortured and killed by security services in 2016.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Truth and reconciliation commissions have been launched in many countries,\" she said, adding that their recommendations are often ignored.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The most important work right now is to make sure the recommendations are respected, implemented, and you don't just put it aside like other commissions.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Reed Brody, a lawyer with the International Commission of Jurists who works with Jammeh's victims, said the government must follow up with concrete actions.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Laws still have to be enacted, a court has to be established, cases have to be prepared, and Yahya Jammeh has to be brought into custody,\" he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Gambian government said Wednesday it will prosecute former dictator Yahya Jammeh for murder, rape, torture and other alleged crimes committed under his more than 20-year rule. The Ministry of Justice said it accepted all but two of the 265 recommendations made by a commission that probed alleged crimes committed by the state under the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-92883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n