Authorities in The Gambia late Tuesday released a Guinean anthropology student who had been arrested two months ago for "spreading revolutionary ideas" and threatening national security.
Under the terms of his release, Mouctar Diallo must continue cooperating in the final three days of the investigation into his activities before he can leave the country, according to a Facebook page organized by a colleague pressing for Diallo's release.
Diallo, a student at the American University in Cairo (AUC), was arrested in The Gambia on April 30 while conducting research for a master's thesis on transnational migration. After weeks of house arrest, monitoring and threats of torture, the Gambian police took Diallo into custody on June 28, Ahram Online reported.
Prior to his arrest, Gambia's National Intelligence Agency confiscated Diallo's belongings, and accused him of "spreading revolutionary ideas" and threatening national security. Diallo's AUC colleague, Phillip Rizk, told the university's student-run Independent newspaper that the leftist literature found in his possession, coupled with his close connection with Egypt, provoked suspicion that Diallo was seeking to foment an Egypt-style uprising against the Gambian government.
According to Ahram Online, Diallo completed his first research trip to The Gambia late last year without disruption.
After his arrest, Diallo spent a week in jail under questioning, according to the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm. He was then placed under house arrest until June 28, at which point Gambian intelligence informed him that they intended to prosecute him for terrorism.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
Joseph Hill, a professor of anthropology at AUC who created the Facebook page "Free Mouctar Diallo in Gambia," told the Independent that he had spoken with Diallo on June 28. During that conversation, Diallo told him that if his colleagues in Cairo heard no news of him for two days, they could assume he had been imprisoned.
Hill also told Ahram Online that Diallo has been unable to retain a lawyer, as "none has dared stay with him once they heard the names the security authorities are calling him." Al-Masry Al-Youm reported that attempts by the Gambian intelligence services to torture Diallo had failed only due to the presence of a Guinean official.
Diallo informed Hill of his release Tuesday night, saying that the investigation was "wrapping up" and that he should be able to leave the country in the next few days, according to the Facebook page.
Hill told Al-Masry Al-Youm that the Gambian intelligence services had cleared Diallo and referred his case to the police. The officer in charge of Diallo's investigation claimed that the police still needed to confirm that Diallo was indeed a student. But according to Hill, the AUC had already faxed a letter verifying Diallo's status.
