By Tabora Bojang
ATRRC witness, Modou Touray yesterday told the commission that the release from prison of UDP leader Ousainu Darboe along with dozens of party supporters was solicited by the court and not President Adama Barrow.
Darboe was arrested and incarcerated in 2016 for taking part in a protest calling for the release of dozens of his supporters who had been arrested during demonstrations led by Solo Sandeng.
He was later sentenced to a three-year prison term, but freed on bail in December just days after ex-president Jammeh lost election to Adama Barrow who pardoned him in January 2017.
Touray, who was released together with Darboe after over 8 months of detention, said it is appalling for him to hear people state that Barrow got Darboe out of jail.
“How could he be the one who freed us from jail when he (Barrow) was on the run?” Touray said.
“Barrow had already fled to Senegal when Darboe and all of us were released. It was the court that ordered for our release and not President Barrow,” the Baddibu man insisted.
Testifying further, Touray claimed he and other detainees were subjected to constant and severe beating and many forms of torture during their detention at the NIA.
“The officers placed a bag over my head and asked me to lie down on a table and as I obeyed, they kicked and beat me with batons and electric cables, which left scars on my body. They would beat me for 5 minutes, take an interval and pour cold water on my body and continue their brutal treatment,” Touray recalled.
He said they were later moved from the NIA to the Mile 2 prisons where they were confined at the Security Wing and later transferred to the Remand Wing following a court order.
“But had we known we would have stayed in the Security Wing because at Remind Wing, we were welcomed to hell and subjected to profound humiliation and degrading treatment.
The environment was cramped and filthy. We were made to sleep on each other as they would put 25 people in one cell. The toilet was inside the cell and we struggled to ease ourselves in chamber pots. It was like a graveyard. I would request cigarettes even though I do not smoke just to give it to another detainee who would leave his place for me to sleep,” Touray added.
Touray said as a result of his ordeals at the NIA and Mile II, he developed memory loss in addition to the pains of torture. “When I left prison, one of my fingers had a problem as a result of the tortures and this has generally affected my life,” he told the commission.
