Three Years After My Arrest: Speaking Out Is Not A Crime

This month marks the third anniversary of my arrest on 9 October 2023. Since then, until today, I remain under police bail without trial. My phone and my daughter’s phone remain in police custody. Three years after officers invaded my home, assaulted members of my family and took me away while I was recovering from pneumonia, the consequences of that action continue.

I consider this prolonged interference with my liberty, privacy, and property a violation of the Constitution and The Gambia’s obligations under international law. It is also symptomatic of dictatorship, i.e., using state institutions to intimidate citizens, punish criticism and discourage demands for transparency and accountability.

My arrest followed an article I published on 2 October 2023 entitled “Adama Barrow’s dictatorial wings must be cut!” I wrote it in response to the President’s remarks at a political rally in Wassu, where he threatened to order arrests of critics and have individuals rearrested even after courts granted them bail. In the article, I called on Cabinet ministers to advise him to respect democracy and the rule of law and urged citizens to speak out against authoritarian tendencies.

I stand by that call. A president must be accountable for his words and actions. Citizens have every reason to challenge statements that threaten their freedoms and undermine the authority of the courts.

On 6 October 2023, police officer Sulayman Gaye telephoned me to report to police headquarters. I explained that I was recovering from pneumonia. A few hours later, he arrived with other plainclothes officers in a white pickup truck with tinted windows and no number plates. They wanted to take me away. I refused to accompany them voluntarily, and they left. Police surveillance around my home followed.

Shortly before 7am on 9 October, five plainclothes officers arrived, some carrying firearms. As the gate opened for the children to leave for school, they forced their way into my home. They showed me no arrest warrant and threatened violence if I refused to accompany them.

I asked them to take my medicine, but they refused. Instead, they grabbed my arms and pushed me towards their vehicle. During the incident, officers assaulted my mother, sister, daughters, nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. They forcibly took my daughter’s phone as she took video of their misconduct, leaving bruises on her wrists. They subsequently seized my phone.

I was taken to the Anti-Crime Unit police post in Jabang. My brother gained access after 12 hours, and my lawyers after 24 hours. The detention conditions were unhealthy and unhygienic, and my health deteriorated. The next day, on 10 October, Commissioner Pa Alieu Jawara, accompanied by Sulayman Gaye and Alhagie Sanneh, came to the station and questioned me without my lawyers present. They told me that my arrest concerned my article criticizing the President’s remarks.

After their interrogation, I was later transferred to the Anti-Crime Unit headquarters in Banjulinding. As my health condition worsened, I requested medical attention. Momodou Sowe, the head of the Anti-Crime Unit, allowed me to visit a clinic. The doctor who examined me recommended admission to Westfield Clinic. Police granted me bail there on 11 October, and I returned home on 14 October.

On 9 November 2023, police charged me with incitement to violence, seditious intention, and false publication and broadcasting. On 23 November, they told me that I no longer needed to report regularly and that they would call when they needed me.

Three years later, I remain under police bail without trial, and both phones remain with the police. I reject these charges as trumped up and politically motivated. Keeping a citizen indefinitely under the threat of prosecution, without bringing the allegations before a court, imposes a continuing burden on that person’s freedom and peace of mind.

The Constitution protects personal liberty, property, privacy, and freedom of expression. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) also protect liberty, fair proceedings, and expression. The treatment of my family and me, and the prolonged restrictions arising from this case, violate these protections.

My experience forms part of a wider pattern that has persisted in this country since 2017: arbitrary arrests and detention, unending bail without trial, trumped-up charges, and disregard for court orders and the law. These malpractices are instruments for silencing voices, stifling scrutiny, and weakening demands for transparency and accountability. Their persistence is indicative of authoritarianism.

The 2016 democratic transition raised hopes that Gambians would finally exercise their freedoms without fear. Those hopes are betrayed whenever police powers are used to intimidate critics or criminal proceedings become a means of keeping citizens in perpetual uncertainty. Dictatorship takes root through repeated abuses that institutions tolerate and society comes to accept.

On this third anniversary of what I consider to be kidnapping, I demand the immediate return of my iPhone 13 and my daughter’s Samsung phone, an end to these prolonged police bail without trial, and an independent investigation into the conduct of the officers involved in my arrest and the assault on my family.

Today or tomorrow, I guarantee President Adama Barrow and former IGP and now Minister of Interior Abdoulie Sanyang and current IGP Seedy Muctarr Touray that there will be justice and accountability for their misconduct and violations.

I remain committed to peaceful advocacy for democracy, human rights, and good governance. My responsibility as a citizen includes questioning power, exposing injustice and demanding accountability. I will continue to fulfil that responsibility.

Speaking out is not a crime. Demanding accountability is a civic duty. Four years of intimidation will not silence me.

Madi Jobarteh
Sovereign citizen