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Gambia News : Gambia arrests British missionary couple

Fiona and David Fulton, who have lived in the Gambia for nine years, were paraded on state television late on Wednesday. A witness said they were taken to court on Thursday.

Details of the charges were not available.

The couple first visited Gambia as tourists, but then returned, said the website of the Westhoughton Pentecostal Church near Bolton in the north of England. David became the chaplain for the Gambian army and Fiona was in charge of the chaplaincy at the airport.

The website said in recent years David had trained army chaplains and worked in a remote ministry accessible only by boat while his wife looked after the terminally ill.

The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office said it was aware of the case but refused to give any details.

Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, who believes he has herbal treatments that can cure AIDS, has tolerated little dissent since he seized power in a 1994 military coup in mainland Africa's smallest country. (Reporting by Pap Saine; Writing by David Lewis; editing by Elizabeth Piper)