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US Senators press for Manneh’s release

  1. Posted on Friday 19 March 2010 - 18:51
    Jammeh
    Image of Jammeh
    For more than two years, U.S. Sen. Richard J. Durbin and a group of Senate colleagues have been pressing for the release of Gambian journalist “Chief” Ebrima Manneh, left.
    In July 2006, security agents arrested Manneh at his workplace at the Daily Observer and have since held him incommunicado and without charge. On Thursday, Durbin and four other senators sent a letter to Kamalesh Sharma, secretary-general of the Commonwealth of Nations, urging him to launch an investigation into the case.
    Though the Economic Community of West African States Community (ECOWAS) Court of Justice and the U.N. Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention call for Manneh’s immediate release, after the Sub-regional court.
    The two-page letter is signed by U.S. Sens. Durbin, Russ Feingold, Robert Casey, Benjamin L. Cardin, and Joe Lieberman. It says in part:
    ‘Mr. Manneh’s disappearance and the Gambian Government’s ongoing refusal to account for his whereabouts are in direct contradiction of the strong human rights standards embraced by the Commonwealth. … Undoubtedly many members of the Commonwealth also share our concern about the deteriorating political and human rights situation in the Gambia, an issue you raised at the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Trinidad and Tobago.’ The letter stated.
    The Gambia is a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, an organization of 54 nations that works toward common goals of democracy, human rights, the rule of law, and good governance.
    The Gambian minister of Justice last year told the deputies that Manneh is not in their custody, but eye witness at the time confirmed that the former state house correspondent was arrested by National Intelligence Agency (NIA) operatives when he reported to work on the 7 of July in 2006.
    After the government denied responsibility of detaining Manneh who have been spooted in different police cells around the country, many sceptics believes that Ebrima Manneh must been tortured to death while state custody.
    US Senators press for Manneh’s release

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