FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)
Fabakary B. Ceesay
6 July 2009
Reliable information monitored by Foroyaa has it that two year state detainees, Mr. Samsideen Jammeh and Kebba Seckan, are now charged with terrorism after spending two years in state custody without any charges brought against them. The duo were charged alongside 14 other Gambians and Senegalese citizens.
According to information, Samsideen Jammeh and Kebba Seckan with others were first arraigned at the Brikama Magistrates' Court before Principal Magistrate Pa Harry Jammeh (sheriff High Court), on 10th June and charged under anti terrorism Act of section 3 (1) of the 2002 terrorism Act.
The duo are accused of conducting themselves or engaged in an unlawful act which might have seriously destabilized or destroyed the fundamental political, constitutional, Economic and Social structures of the Gambia. They were said to have committed this offence on 8th August 2006, at Darsilameh village in Western Region. They were subsequently remanded after their plea without a legal representation.
Samsideen Jammeh, a native of Foni Sutusinjang in the Foni Brefet District, according to the family, he was arrested since 14 January 2007, detained at Sibanor Police Station and later moved to Banjul Police Station, at the police Headquarters. The family said he was detained by the police for two years and a week before he was moved to the Mile 2 Prison in January 2009. They said during his two years in police custody at Banjul they were allowed frequent visits to him.
They said they were surprised when he was transferred to the State Central Mile 2 Prison without trial.
The family of Kebba Seckan, a former NIA operative, said he went missing since 14 May 2007, when he went for work and never returned home. The family said Seckan was posted to Giboro border check point as an intelligence operative. They said he was later moved to Tourism Development Area (TDA) as an O/C (Officer Commanding).
They said they only heard his arrest and subsequent inprisonment incommunicado at Mile 2 Prison. They said they have tried in vain to access him but the authorities there always told them that they should get a clearance from the concerned authorities. They said throughout his two years detention they could not access him. They lamented that after two years without trial he was charged and subsequently taken to court without the knowledge of his family. Mr. Seckan is a native of Albreda in Upper Niumi.
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