Magistrate S Conteh issued the bench warrant yesterday afternoon following the prosecution’s application for Dr Amadou Scattred Janneh who now lives in the United States to be extradited by the Interpol.
“The application for bench warrant is granted. Bench warrant is hereby issued for the accused to be brought back to face the charge,” Magistrate Conteh said.
The prosecutor, Alieu Faye, in convincing the court said: “The accused is out of the jurisdiction and we are applying for a bench warrant so that the accused can be brought back by the Interpol to face the charge,” he said.
Dr Janneh, a Gambian-American citizen is accused of distributing T-shirts bearing ‘Coalition for Change the Gambia, End to Dictatorship Now’ with intent to usurp executive powers.
He was convicted to life in jail by Justice Emmanuel Nkea of the Special Criminal Division in Banjul in January 2011 for same charges now before the court. However, he was pardoned by President Yahya Jammeh together with Tamsir Jasseh, also a Gambian-American after their sentence.
Dr Janneh served as Information Minister for over a year under the Jammeh administration following his return from the US where he studied journalism and political science and later taught for over ten years as assistant professor of African and African-American Studies at the University of Tennessee, US.
Over the past weeks, he has been based in the capital of neighbouring Senegal engaged in his anti-Gambia government activities including distributing T-shirts.
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