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Simon Maina/AFP-Getty Images
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh arrives at the African Union summit in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on July 15.
A plan by Gambia to execute every prisoner on death row next month has been condemned by the African Union and civil rights groups.
According to the Civil Society Associations Gambia, there are currently 47 people awaiting death sentences in the West African nation, including 11 political prisoners and eight suspected of having severe mental health problems. One has been on death row for more than 25 years.
“CSAG is strongly convinced that most of those who were convicted to death for treason went through unfair trials and considers their convictions politically related,” the group said in a statement.
“Given that the Gambia Government uses the death penalty and other harsh sentences as a tool to silence political dissent and opposition, CSAG believes that any execution is a further indicator of the brutality with which President [Yahya] Jammeh’s regime is bent on crushing political dissent,” it added.
Benin's President Thomas Boni Yayi, chairman of the African Union, urged Jammeh, who seized power in a 1994 coup, not to go ahead with the executions, according to BBC News.
"After having learned of the imminent execution of a number of prisoners sentenced to death, President Yayi, who is very concerned, wished that President Yahya Jammeh not carry out such a decision," Beninois Foreign Minister Nassirou Bako Arifari told BBC Afrique.
Jammeh, in an address to the nation Monday, Jammeh said that the executions would be carried out within the next few weeks.
"By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter; there is no way my government will allow 99 percent of the population to be held to ransom by criminals," he said, according to news service AFP.
President's 'repressive nature'
AFP said that eight military top brass, including the ex-deputy head of the police force, were given death sentences for treason last year. The last execution in the country happened five years ago.
CSAG said his remarks, which were made to mark the Muslim festival of Eid, a time when “Muslims the world over seek forgiveness, extend messages of peace and love, show solidarity with one another and those in distressing conditions.”
“President Jammeh chose once again to show his brutality and repressive nature by informing Muslim leaders that he would execute prisoners,” the group said in the statement.
It added that the death row inmates included 39 Gambians with three from neighboring Senegal, two from Mali, two from Nigeria and one from Guinea Bissau. There are 46 men and one woman.
CSAG called for the international community to put pressure on Jammeh to stop the executions.
Death sentences were "known to be used as a tool against the political opposition" in Gambia, international rights group Amnesty International said in a report.
"Furthermore, international standards on fair trials, including presumption of innocence, access to lawyers and exclusion of any evidence obtained as a result of torture, are often not respected,” it added.
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Leave a Comment:
Silence the opposition...we try to do it here in the USA...just not to this extreme.
Yet.
nbcnews silences people that they ask for comments by deleting and collapsing unfavorable comments. Is NBC the internet Ghana?
Wouldn't killing our life sentence to our lifers in jail only be crushing the allies of our president? Since that demographic supports the president more than any other?
Look at the photo of this character. I can see corruption in every single stitch of his fabric.
P.J. Why? Because he is African or because he's dressed in his native attire?
Would you really make such a psychobabble comment if you just saw his picture without any accompanying text? Do you believe you see "corruption" in a photo of Desmond Tutu as well?
Do you just fear all dark dark-skinned black people?
I'm not sure about that, dillbert, but I do think that people like you who add nothing of value to any conversation make up a substantial segment of his opposition.
zevon, don't be silly. I would agree with Peter Jacobs. You see nothing odd about him except that he's black? Take another look...he's the size of Governor Christie, in a nation where people often don't have enough to eat.
Admittedly, he's one of the elite and they don't starve, even in poor nations, but still...
On the other hand, we already know he's corrupt, so maybe it's just 20/20 hindsight.
Here we just disenfranchise our "political prisoners" through claims of voter fraud. Zambia on the other hand goes for more of a Tea Party methodology.
dong97524 make sure brain is in gear before putting fingers to work. 75% of prisoners are black. 94% of blacks voted for Obama based solely on his skin color. Easy to figure out.
zevon-3331834 There has not been a non corrupt African head of state since the first African country got its independence. Peter Jacobs can easily make that statement and be 100% true.
He would make a good Republican here in America, he just goes about his business differently.
Ofcourse1
Since you are connected to the Internet and have shown enough proficiency in its use to post here, I can only assume that you are ignorant by choice or are spreading lies to fuel your bigoted agenda. While blacks are disproportionately represented in our prisons, they do not make up 75% of the population. They make up a bit less than 40%. The numbers are lower when you consider everyone under government supervision, as other demographics are more likely to receive other punishments than prison.
It is easy for anyone to figure you out. Go crawl back under your rock.
Don't tell Obama that Gambia Government uses the death penalty and other harsh sentences as a tool to silence political dissent and opposition or he will be trying that here is the US!
clearvoice2, Iwould like to send you and Romney/Ryan there and Kock Bros. there. I'm sure he won't mind taking care of some of our Politcal disatents for us to brighten up the Muslem Holiday. Works for me.
So long as your send our President along to keep them company...:o)...vote Democrat?Just vote Communist what's is the difference.
@ofcourse1
DING! DING! DING! DING! There it is! ! You win the prize for today's most ignorant, racist and bigoted statement of the day!!! Your family must be SO proud!!!!
Congratulations, "here's your sign."
ofcourse1
Ghana? Ghana??
Wow, it appears you also have a reading comprehension problem. You're just the whole package, aren't you?
President of Gambia is right kill them all who is foolish enough to oppose his regime in any way. If I was President of Gambia I would do the same thing but, I am American so that means if I am elected President yep you guessed it meet Mr.Death.
THE REASON CAN BE SUMMED UP BY A SIMPLE INTERNET SEARCH:
"Gambia signs petroleum exploration pact with US company" (The Point, May 28, 2012)
FROM THE ARTICLE: "Dr. Kase Lawal, chairman and chief executive officer of Camac Energy Company, assured the
Gambia government of his company’s readiness to work and develop skills and capacity of the local people.
According to him, Gambians will have the opportunity to study petroleum engineering in Texas,
USA, through his company’s endowment fund.
“In the 26 years we have been in business, we started as an agricultural commodity company in Texas, USA, and in 1991 we entered our first exploration and production licences in
Nigeria together with Conoco Philips, one of the largest oil companies in the world,” Dr. Lawal said."
The company is an oil & gas exploration company called Carmac Energy, a "privately owned" company. A little more searching came across that it is based in Texas (no surprise). What I found interesting is that the company is "owned" by Dennis McCarthy (obviously an American) but is headed up by a fraudulent front man in "Dr." Kase Lawal. AN AFRICAN BILLIONAIRE, LAWAL "STARTED" CAMAC ENERGY IN NIGERIA (ANOTHER HOTBED OF OIL CORRUPTION) and no doubt, if someone dug far enough, would have connections to the CIA.
Kind of scary because it almost makes me want to believe some of the conspiracy theorists with 9/11. LAWAL IS A DEVOUT MUSLIM yet starts a multi-billion dollar oil exploration company in the most volatile regions of the world.
This is probably how it plays out: CIA helps Kawal get started in exchange for him backing their black-ops projects with his oil $$. They realize that they need to put in place permanent controls over Americans that would allow them to eavesdrop, etc. (The Patriot Act), rendition and torture Americans if things come to light but know that Americans won't willingly cede more power to them.
Kawal (through back channels and Muslim contacts) helps fund the 9/11 hijackers and co-conspirators around the world. And the rest is history.
It sounds like something right out of a dark and chilling spy novel but is it REALLY that far fetched? Planes from the CIA, funding from Kawal, torture centers in Nigeria and Gambia.
BTW, FROM THE US DEPT OF STATE'S WEBSITE (NOTICE LAST UPDATED SEVEN WEEKS AGO -JULY 3, 2012):
U.S. Assistance to The Gambia
U.S. assistance supports democracy, human rights, girls' education, and the fight against HIV/AIDS. In addition, the Peace Corps maintains a large program with about 100 volunteers* engaged in the environment, public health, and education sectors, mainly at the village level. The United States also provides military assistance to The Gambia.
Bilateral Economic Relations
The Gambia is eligible for preferential trade benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act. A number of U.S. citizens have set up small businesses in The Gambia and several U.S. brand companies such as Western Union, MoneyGram, UPS, Sheraton, Motorola, and Coca Cola are represented there.
The Gambia's Membership in International Organizations
The Gambia plays an active role in international affairs, especially West African and Islamic affairs. The Gambia and the United States belong to a number of the same international organizations, including the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization.
(*It is well-known that, in the past, the CIA has used the Peace Corps as a frontgroup for their various activities in nations we either had a financial or political interest in knowing more about on a daily basis. ALSO, NOTE HOW, IN THE ARTICLE, THE COMPANY NAME IS INTERCHANGED FROM CAMAC TO CARMAC. Mistake? Freudian slip?)
zevon, eventually, as time passes and you grow old, you will be able to see lies and truths walking up to you from far away. This will happen when you stop seeing skin deep and start seeing heart deep. Until then, you will not know what I am talking about. The fact that you are raising the questions tells me that you are on your way. Keep up the good work.
nutgrape You are the product of a failed American education that you can't spend 10 seconds looking up the black population percentage in the U.S. and the black percentage of inmates. It is sad that people who call themselves black only make up 15% of U.S. population and make up 75% of the prison population. Sadder is that 94% voted for Obama. YET under Obama Adult Male Black unemployment doubled!
Now you take Chicago's Union Prep Charter Academy which is 100% black and sends 100% of the graduating seniors to 4 year universities.
Obama refuses to send a team of educators to the 20 high schools that send all their graduating seniors to college and to find out what the formula is to making all American schools successful!
You are the product of a failed education system.
nutgrape: with black males incarcerated at a rate more than 6.5 times that of white males and 2.5 that of Hispanic males. source= project.org/info.php?recordID=174 Many hispanic males describe themselves as black. The incarcerated population includes, city, state and federal jails and those on parole due to overcrowded facilities. Read and educate yourself. If the black population in the U.S.A. is 15% then one would think that only 15% of those incarcerated are black. Very far from the truth.
Now you go and look at Chinese and Japanese populations and incarcerated Chinese and Japanese and the numbers are reversed. Less Chinese and Japanese are in jail per the number of American citizens. The black leaders including Obama have failed the black population, while they become super wealthy.
Show me one country in Africa which is honestly and fairly governed that puts its people first, builds schools, hospitals and doesn't have a huge army and spends a high percentage of its budget on arms. Show me one politician that doesn't use his power to make himself and his cronies rich on the backs of the population!
I know whites in South Africa who have to carry guns all the time. Which country has the largest number of kidnappings, car jackings and murders? Which black leaders live on their SALARIES?
Forgetting this episode....there has never been an African nation that could even govern itself. Every po-dunk European country was (easily) able to colonize this place, even though it is loaded with resources. Yeah, I know, holler racist or whatever, but thefacts remain.
Wow skipper you really need to read A LOT of history. Your ignorance is showing. Pre -colonial African people ruled their lands just like the Native Americans did. They had great Empires just like the American Natives did. The Lakota, Dakota, Iroquois, Aztecs etc etc etc. Were they as technologically advanced as Europe? No. At times Europe was not as advanced as the great Muslim Empires or the great Chinese Empires were. Hell the Roman Empire was more advanced than Dark Ages Europe was. Racist maybe, unread, ignorant of history yes.
Nobody really cares anymore. That was then. This is now.
The cradle of humanity, Africa, certainly isn't the cradle of civilization. You would think if everything started there they should be so much more advanced today then other countries - since they had been at it ten thousand years earlier than other nations. But they still can't get together and without the money and guidance from the rest of the world it would be a cesspool of barbarianism. Slavery not only started there but continues today.
Ever hear of this country called Egypt? That country has been governing itself many times more than the USA and continues to this day.
And look what they have done to once prosperous white run countries like Rhodesia, which used to be the second richest country in Africa - now reduced to a basket case begging for food from UN. Africa is the land of kleptocracy, where ordinary people are far worse now than under the colonial rule.
I think the best way to fix Africa would be to just wall it off for about 100 years. Wall off the whole continent, minus maybe Egypt. Keep Europe and the US and China from influencing Africa, allow Africans to rule themselves without asking oil companies or diamond mine owners for permission, etc. Yes the continent will become a complete war zone at first but sooner rather than later the AKs will run out of ammo and you'll finally start to see stability. Stability and self-rule, that's what this continent needs most.
There's not a big difference between the North African nations and the Saharan and sub-Saharan nations when it comes to lack of civil rights Americans were used to up until the Bush Jr. era. These tyrants in power in these countries learned nothing from decades of European colonial rule. Even South Africa with all its tributes to Nelson Mandela and Bishop Tutu hasn't come completely out of an apartheid mentality. Look at the deaths (assassinations) of the miners recently. Africa is still the dark continent. The Muslim Middle-East runs a close second followed by China, Belarus, and the Russian Federation. Next? The good old U.S.A.
When you have a continent-spanning empire that lasts many hundreds of years, you will have a point.
Than explain to me why Musalinis Army couldn't beat a bunch of spear chuckers in Adrica.
Devil's Son You forget that those great BLACK EMPIRES IN AFRICA engaged in bloody wars and sold their enemies and even their own tribes men, women and children into slavery. GOOD OLDE DAYS EH?
It's too bad they don't do this same practice in the U.S. It might reduce prison populations and overcrowding, and end early release of inmates.
A lot of death row inmates have been proven innocent lately. It would be nice to make sure we actually get they right guy or gal first.
It's too bad you and a lot of our citizenry are not willing to do the heavy intellectual lifting and ponder why it is that our country has thrived while third world cesspools and banana republics continue to sh!t in their nest and slaughter their own. You say you want to clean house in all American death row facilities without letting the hard-won legal statutes governing appeals and due process play out the way they're designed to. You conveniently ignore the well documented cases of prosecutorial abuse and overreach which have sent dozens of innocent individuals to their deaths, even in the face of scientifically sound DNA tests which would have spared them. I'm sure your blathering about wiping death row clean and saving tax dollars plays well to the bar room crowd and your poker game circle jerks. Just remember, it could be your brother or son or father on death row. Still want to throw the switch?
If they were proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt then yes I do want to pull that switch and stop providing them with 3 hots and a cot. Their victims didn't get 12 appeals.
And there have been many who have been proven guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt and have also later been proven innocent. That could be you. You want to throw the switch on yourself?
Byron, and I guess that the Colo shooter could be innocent too even though hundreds of people saw him do it. Sheesh, grow a brain and get that bleeding heart of yours fixed. None of those released thru the innocence project were convicted due to multiple eye witnesses. They were convicted by overzealous prosecuting attorneys and D.A.'s on circumstantial evidence.
Well, let's hear again how oppressive the old colonial nations were, how they mistreated the native peoples, and how wonderful it has been for them since they have self-government. Gambia is just showing a little national pride and self-determination!
Much of their problem now is we put groups of people that hated each other together. Its what caused the Hutu Tutsi genocide. The minority was favored under colonial rule (for looking more light skinned) and was then killed by the resentful majority.
Africa is messed up, but Europe really did help cause it.
I hope your kidding..our prison for profit system in this country is ridiculous. No one cares about rehabilitation, they just want to lock people up and never deal with the root cause of the issues plaguing our society.
root cause of the issues plaguing our society... you man evil scum? I could only wish America would convict, give the death penalty by a 12 person jury and kill the rats!
God Speed,
Your name says it all. The graybearded ghost you worship and the junk you smoke. Only a knuckle dragging cretin would suggest immediate executions and only a heartless prick would call them rats.
Wrong. If they are smoking gun guilty, kill the RATS IMMEDIATELY.
Why should a murderer live any day longer? They shouldn't.
Signed,
Knuckle dragging cretin with common sense.
Judge not, God Speed.
People have been found innocent after being fingered by multiple eyewitnesses as the murderer.
No matter how "smoking gun guilty" somebody seems to be, we are only human. We make mistakes and convict and murder innocents. And we dare call it justice.
Nazi Germany, African style!? Here's the Gambian president looking snug, and so well-fed, while millions of other Africans in ear-shot living around him, and starving, or experiencing the worst possible kind of poverty!
There should be death sentences leveled against such pig-like leaders in the international "People's Court," to counter such mad practices!! The current international court isn't really working... (I so wish there was a real court that represented people internationally!)
Would you feel better if the President of Gambia appeared emaciated?
I don't think he appears well-fed. I think he appears poorly fed! If her were well-fed, he wouldn't be so fat.
OK. Comment deleted because I pointed out that the author brought the peaceful muslims into the article about death sentences - kind of a two-fer on the "rouse the rabble" front. Yee-haw.
We should do the same thing, save millions.
Who cares if they're actually innocent right?
They are already on "Death Row". Finally, somebody knows what that means and it's not "Appeal".
the 130+ people who've been released from death row because of prosecutorial misconduct, forced confessions, evidence tampering, etc., were "already on "Death Row"" and would disagree with you.
It's not my country (Gambia), but one would have to assume that being on "Death Row," that one would be put to death. It's not called "Rot Indefinitely Under the False Threat of Execution Row." However, I certainly would not want to be on trial there.
Africa is such a quagmire. The continent is chock full of trouble.
Yes, it's too bad they don't do this same practice in the US, because if the US started executing government dissenters a large percentage of posters on this article would be part of the group lined up for execution.
cultofdan, I partially agree with you. Never mind the dissenters. I was going to say I wish they'd do that in the CA prison (San Quinton) to all the murderers, ie Richard Davis, Scott Peterson, Richard Ramirez etc. They've been there for years and will prolly outlive me and the prosecutors, jurors, their parents etc. Clear out death row (there are over 700 death row prisoners in CA alone). I doubt it will take long for it to fill up again, but I'm tired of my tax dollars being spent on giving them a leisurely lifestyle for 20+ years while I'm living in a dump with a roof that leaks and a house that is falling apart because I can't afford the repairs (disability retired with less than 1/3 the income that the gov't has set as the poverty level). I'm sure I'd be better off killing someone and landing on death row in CA so I can have housing better than what I live in now. (plus free-to them-medical, tv cable, room, no matter how small, food, and everything else that goes along with incarceration). Considering my age, I'd die of natural causes before they ever carried out my death sentence-just like almost everyone now on death row will do. Why even have the death sentence in the U.S.? It's a joke.
Nice beanie their Prezz-o-dent is wearing in that pic, but it really doesn't match or complement his heavily embroidered dress. He's probably wearing a pink thong under it.
Whoa!........One look at that President and you know you screwed! Even looks like he got a Grille!
Jammeh is the new Republican hero.
As long as he is killing moslems / terrorists I really don't see the problem ... maybe Romney can put him on his cabinet and his duty will be to clean out all the traitorous bottom feeding Obama supporting half-wits here in this country.
More crazy, panther? You are full of it.
Send Al and Jessie over to organize a protest march,and to show I'm not racist, you can send Nancy and Harry with them.
Watch out for the tar pits.
Romney was already there. It was his idea to snuff them out. Like the Republicans plan to euthanize the elderly to save on medical costs and Social Security. See you think folks don't see the veiled idiocy some of you insist on inserting in your messages.
I'm willing to bet that their life in prison is probably worse than death anyway.
you know if they're political prisoners who are innocent of any real crime they could just release them.
But Josh, I don't believe they would be released regardless.
See People are starving in Gambia, so the Grand Poopy Pants has decided if he kills 47 on death row, thats enough food savings to feed 500 people. These Dictators are crafty devils, just look at Assad in Syria and his two toed Pal Imahandjob from Iran. They always are looking for creative ways to enhance the little guiys existence.
If Gambia executes the political prisoners and the severly disabled prisoners we will just add another terrorist to the American Kill List waiting to happen.
Gambia and countries that execute their citizens in the manner that they do need social justice and other medical facilities that will help treat the afflicted.
The leader of Gambia had best re-think his actions as I am certain that someone in his staff are going to lose his grip on their minds and simply slit his throat......hopefully in public.
Then America can go in and take care of the citizens of Gambia how a civilized country should.
Do you know what Yahya Jammeh is?
Yep you guessed it.
A Ni gger.
Mirrored sunglasses, the preferred sunglasses of oppressors. Just like in Cool Hand Luke. ;)
Africa is certainly the continent where the inmates are running the asylum. It hasn't worked since the colonial days. Any foreign aid to these misfits goes right into their pockets.
lol "Silence political dissent" In the third world @!$%# hole of Gambia?? It's like who want's to master of the cow pie?
Given the alternative, spend your life rotting in this idiots prisons of wind up on his dinner table, death may be the most humane exit.
Aren't prisoners on death row supposed to get executed?
Don't tell that to Norway, they find it hard to give a young guy who kills 77 people, in cold blood, a hard 21 years!
We do it differently, by giving our legal system 15-20 years to appeal, and then pardon with time served.