By Mafugi Ceesay
Fatou Camara, one of the then opposition United Democratic Party supporters arrested alongside Solo Sandeng, yesterday told the Banjul High Court trying 9 former NIA offcials that she urinated blood for 15 days after she was tortured by the NIA.
She said despite her condition, she rejected an offer for treatment by NIA the doctor Sanyang because she did not trust him.
“I refused to be treated by Dr. Sanyang because I have heard stories about people being allegedly injected to death at the NIA. So one Sergeant Jeng brought a nurse by the name Fatou Darboe to whom I appealed for mercy, since she is a woman like us after which she applied some spray which gave us some relief,” she said.
She said she spent 20 days at the NIA.
She said she was blindfolded during the torture, resulting in injuries that left her needing glasses to boost her sight.
The 55-year-old further said she sustained injuries all over her body due to the long hours of torture.
She recalled that at some point a man came in and asked the torturers to stop.
“The man who rescued me from them took me to sit under a veranda, but even while sitting there another man came and kicked me leaving me with terrible pain which made me unable to drink water that I requested.”
Camara explained that she was later escorted to a big room where she saw a long table and a video cameraman who filmed herself, Fatoumata Jawara and Nogoi Njie, adding that during this process she was called by a man who was sitting at the corner of the room to tell the truth.
“It was then Tamba Mansally interrupted and asked for vinegar to eliminate all of us, but someone pleaded with him to have mercy and from this point I could not remember the torturers as I had lost consciousness and only opened my eyes in a different room where I met Fatoumata Jawara and Nogoi Njie again. Nogoi told me that there was a doctor who had come to see them. Later they came for us again and took us to another room in the middle of the yard where I saw the said doctor. I could remember gaining consciousness on Saturday,” Fatou Camara explained.
The trial continues.
