By Saikou Jammeh

Gambian president Yahya Jammeh has vowed to execute the death sentence despite local and international outcry.

"I will not allow few criminals to jeopardize the peace and stability of this country," Jammeh said, criticizing the West for promoting human rights against the safety of the people.

Jammeh was addressing a meeting at state house comprising cabinet ministers, National Assembly members, and local authorities, religious leaders and the ruling-APRC bigwigs on Friday.

Gambia was among the first African countries to abolish the death penalty – in 1981 – but it was reinstated in 1995 after the coup for murder and treason offences. Now it has been further extended to punish drug and human trafficking offences.

Since its reinstatement in 1995 to date a rough estimation of about 20 people have been sentenced to death, although none has been confirmed to be executed yet.

The death sentence has provoked an outcry both locally and internationally.

"We need to rehabilitate our criminals" an opposition parliamentarian Hon. Babanding Daffeh said in an interview with Daily News. "If someone has been convicted, but later found innocent while the death penalty has been executed that would be a big blow."

Also a human rights lawyer Assan Martins expressed fear that the innocent people could be executed for crimes they have not committed.

"The fear is that an innocent person may also suffer or may end up being a victim. We don’t support anything of collective punishment of both the innocent and the guilty," Martins told The Point newspaper recently.

But the Gambian president said he will execute the law to the letter. "If I start killing people will start saying I am killing whilst they kill themselves."

"Human right is subjected to the rights of another person; murder, rape and robbery were infrequent in The Gambia but now these are daily occurrences," Justice Minister Edu Gomez said.