Gambia sued at West African court over execution of death row inmates

Posted by admin Africa & World Politics, Headlines Sunday, October 21st, 2012

ABUJA, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) — The Civil Society Associations Gambia (CSAG) has filed an application against the government at the ECOWAS Court of Justice regarding the West African country’s 38 death row inmates at Mile 2 Central Prisons.

Banka Manneh, chairman of the CSAG, made the announcement in a statement released by the West African bloc ECOWAS on Monday in the Nigerian capital Abuja.

The group accused the Gambian government of violating the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and Customary International law.

It said the government also violated the rights stipulated in “Peremptory Norms of International Law, General Principles of Law Recognized by Civilized Nations, The Prohibition of the Death Penalty and the Right to a Fair Trial.”

The CSAG sought a court declaration that the executions of the detainees have violated the aforementioned texts, as well as an order that Gambia comply with the provisions of the various rights and principles and stop pronunciation of death sentences and execution of those on death row.

The group described as cruel and inhumane the alleged secret executions of nine of the 48 death row inmates carried out by the government without the knowledge of family members.

The group also demand the release of the bodies of the allegedly executed inmates and 1 million U.S. dollars in compensation for the families.

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