Freedom Newspaper (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Wise Man
26 February 2008
"Yahya Bajinka is currently suffering from mental disorder and stress related problems. This is as a result of the torture he suffered in the hands of the state guards. He is really sick. He is likely to die in prisons if urgent actions are not taken to treat him." said the Prison official.
Yahya Bajinka, the brother of the erstwhile ADC, Major Kalifa Bajinka, is reported to be in a critical health conditions at the Mile Two Central Prisons, amidst reports that the former NIA agent might as well die in jail, if not provided with immediate medical attention. Well placed sources close to the State Central Prisons said Yahya Bajinka has been nursing serious illness for the past couple of days and that his chances for recovery was very slim. Yahya who was an employee of the feared National Intelligence Agency, has been in trouble with the Gambian authorities, since the escape of his fugitive brother Major Bajinka.
While, there is no reason advanced for his continued detention without trial, reports have it that the detainee was being punished for the sudden disappearance of his brother Major Bajinka from the country. Major Bajinka was accused of having hands into the March 2007 foiled coup, which saw the summarily execution of five security chiefs, including the former NIA DG Daba Marena. The mastermind of the said coup Colonel Ndure Cham is on self-imposed exile, at a neighboring country.
Major Bajinka, who was on a military studies in Nigeria, returned home after the successful completion of his studies. Few hours after his arrival home, NIA officers led by Bamba Manneh were detailed to arrest Bajinka, who during the process of his arrest, absconded to neighboring Senegal, where he settled, until his resettlement into the US, through refugee status. Banjinka is currently residing in Boston, with his wife and family.
Prison officials who spoke to the Freedom Newspaper today said Yahya Bajinka suffered brutal torture in the hands of state guard soldiers led by Staff Sergeant Malick Jatta. Our sources said Bajinka had little chances of surviving, in view of torture inflicted on his person.
The Prison officials who spoke on conditions of strict anonymity warned that if Yahya Bajinka is not provided with immediate medical attention, he risked dying in jail soon. The officials said Bajinka had been denied access to medication and his family by the state for the past couple of months.
" Yahya Bajinka is currently suffering from mental disorder and stress related problems. This is as a result of the torture he suffered in the hands of the state guards. He is really sick. He is likely to die in prisons if urgent actions are not taken to treat him." said the Prison official.
Another prison official told our Correspondent that Bajinka was briefly accorded medical attention by a visiting nurse, but that practice has ceased since then. " If you see Yahya Bajinka, you will feel pity for him. He is in such a bad condition of health. I doubt it if he will make it." said the prison official.
A member of the Banjinka family told the Freedom Newspaper roving correspondent Wise Man that they don't know the whereabouts of Yahya Bajinka. "He might even be killed who knows? Anytime, we go to the State Central Prisons to see him, we are denied access to the detainee. It has been more than one year when I last saw Yahya. This is unfair." he said.
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