The issue of torture is a serious one and has been alleged in many criminal cases in the country involving the security officers and [both suspected and convicted] perpetrators of crimes.
What is torture? The dictionary defines it as a pain deliberately inflicted on someone especially to extort something from them in the case of a criminal offence committed.
The issue of torture has often been alleged by the victims who underwent these torturous practices on anyone arrested and detained for a criminal offence in order to extort information from them. So often these allegations of torture are denied by the security officers and yet it is known that these inhumane practices are carried out systematically with impunity as a form of punishment on a regular basis in order to get criminals to confess to crimes they have committed, and sometimes to crimes they have not committed due to the anguish of the torturous practices inflicted upon them. In The Daily News publication of Wednesday 29 – 30 December 2010, under the caption “Journalist Harassed for Taking Pictures of Death-row Inmates”, it stated that a group of security officers from different security units confronted one Foroyaa journalist, Fabakary Ceesay for taking pictures of death row inmates. They uttered abusive language as they shouted at the confused journalist, “who are you? You think you are from Foroyaa and can do whatever you want. We don’t mind whether you are from Foroyaa. If you don’t mind we will deal with you, seize your camera, arrest, torture you and nothing will come out of it”. What a provocative and intimidating remark that Mr. Ceesay would be tortured and nothing would come out of it, meted out to a journalist carrying out his normal duties. Why should journalists succumb to such maltreatment and outrageous practices all in the cause of carrying out their normal duties and before they are found guilty of committing a crime or felony. Isn’t this tantamount to the violation of human rights?
In the same Daily News publication of December 29-30, page 4 captioned, “Cocaine Suspect’s Torture Claim Affirmed”. We read the discovery of a large haul of cocaine, a billion dollar worth of this dangerous drug and arrest of 12 people, all foreigners in May 2010, who were implicated in this crime. In this article the accused persons gave blatant report of how they were brutally tortured by the security officers. I here report on some of the anguish that they sustained while in detention and it does not seem possible that human beings could carry out such painful and inhumane practices on their fellow human beings to get them to confess to crimes they are not always guilty of sometimes due to the anguish of these torturous practices. This case of the billion dollar worth of cocaine has dragged on and on yet these men were almost caught red-handed of this discovery. Was it necessary for them to be tortured to obtain relevant information from them?
It was reported that one of the suspects was taken away some 15 to 20 metres from the Holgam Fishing Company by some security officers and ordered him to reveal where the drugs were hidden and that he would die if he did not comply. The officers began to inflict blows on him. A plastic was then put over his face and one of them grabbed his nose until he could not breathe. He was in severe pain and this was when the police obtained a statement from him. He was made to kneel down and they began to kick him in his penis and stomach until he began to vomit blood and one of the officers pointed a gun at him and actually pulled the trigger but the gun failed to fire. At this stage a police doctor was called in because of his condition – his face was swollen and he continued to vomit blood. It is a terrible dilemma that this man was so severely tortured, resulting in actual physical damage to his body and which necessitated a doctor to be called in to see him!! How brutal can human beings be, deliberately inflicting so much pain and anguish to a fellow human being.
Another suspect revealed that he was transferred to the NIA headquarters in Banjul and was brought before a panel. He narrated that as he entered through the NIA door two officers welcomed him with persistent blows on his face. He was requested to lie on the floor and they began to lash him with an electric wire and one of them used the head of a plug to beat him on his back and arms. It was reported that another suspect was kicked and heavy blows were showered on him until he fell down almost helpless and then “the football game began” as he lay down. They continued to beat him until he man screamed out in extreme pain and finally told them that he was ready to confess as he was forced to do, because of the extreme form of torture meted out to him as he lay down almost unconscious. These were some of the horrific and torturous practices allegedly meted out to these men in order to extort relevant information from them. Yet claims of torture and sheer brutality have often been denied by the security officers.