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Gambia: Immigration Officers Brutalize Suspect

At the Wellingara Police Station on Wednesday, at about 11.30 am to be precise, when three immigration officers brought a young man into the station they physically and verbally assaulted him. The incident found this reporter standing inside the station who therefore witnessed the whole scene.

When the three immigration officers arrived at the station on board a taxi they hurriedly whisked a young man out of the cab. The three officers, who were sweating and looking very angry, lifted the young man and dropped him on the floor of the station verandah. One held him by the neck, the other sat on him holding his hands while the third was kicking and beating him. Some of the other police and immigration officers rushed to help their colleagues. The young man was dragged into the station. He was shouting at the top of his voice trying to explain something. But the officers would not listen or even care about what he was trying to say. He was put behind the counter sweating and breathing heavily in a torned shirt. A female police officer was trying to get a clue of what he was trying to explain whilst one of those officers who brought him, who was still sweating and raging with fury, kept on shouting on him, "Shut up! You think you can stand us; will you stand your officers in Nigeria? You have no papers and you want to fight us in our own country, we will jail you and see what comes out of it," he uttered as he heaved. Another one also kept on hurling angry invectives at him. One officer, not part of the three also added, "You are lying, you think you can out smart us, you think we don't know you Nigerians. We will charge you for assaulting officers on their duties." The same officer rushed towards the counter as if he was going to attack the man. He halted himself and said, "Put him in the cell, we will deal with him later." The young man, who was in his mid 30s was able to explain something to the female officer and a man in plain clothes.

According to the man, he was having documents, but that he was in a court case and the prosecutors in the case seized his documents. He added that the said prosecutors were at Bundung police station, mentioning some names. He explained that the prosecutors gave him clearance papers which indicate that they were holding his documents. He indicated that the clearance paper guaranteed his passage with the authorities. The man alleged that the said clearance paper was confiscated by the three officers and one of them tore it into pieces. He vehemently denied assaulting any of the officers and said that he was only trying to explain to them the importance of that tored paper to him. Most of the officers, both the immigration and the police insisted that the man was fabricating stories.