By Tabora Bajang
The Gambia Police Force last evening issued a statement confirming that a chieftain of the main opposition UDP, Lawyer Borry Touray, was yesterday charged with incitement to violence.
The police said Touray was “invited to the Police Headquarters in Banjul, where he was confronted with statements he made that constitute incitement to violence”.
The police said “the engagement forms part of an active police inquiry into remarks considered capable of provoking unrest or undermining public safety”, noting that “incitement to violence is a serious offence under the laws of The Gambia, and such conduct will be addressed with the full force of the law.”
Reaction
Touray’s arrest and prosecution over remarks during a recent political gathering in Kombo South, has been condemned by members of his party and some members of the civil society who accused the police of pursuing selective justice, saying senior members of the ruling party including cabinet members made bellicose public statements but were never summoned by the police not to talk of prosecution.
UDP senior official Lamin Manneh told The Standard last night: “He has been detained since 10 o’clock and the police are refusing to release him because they said they are waiting for orders from above.”
Manneh alleged that a police officer confessed to one of their members at the headquarters that even though the police do not agree with the charges, they could not do much since the orders came “from the top” for them to prefer charge and detain Mr Touray.
“Yet again the intimidation is starting. They will tell you the order is from above. So we are going to fight this because otherwise it is going to be the same nonsense like under Jammeh. And we cannot go back to that era,” Manneh warned.
