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Gambia News: Gambia jails ex-officials, fortune teller for plot

BANJUL (Reuters) - A Gambian court sentenced two former top civil servants and a fortune teller to 20 years in prison with hard labour on Thursday for their role in a plot last year to overthrow President Yahya Jammeh.

It followed the conviction by court martial of 10 former army officers for terms ranging from 10 years to life for their roles in the plot. Some officers publicly confessed to trying to take over the tiny West African state while Jammeh was abroad.

Tamsir Jasseh, former director general of immigration, and Alieu Jobe, once accountant general at the Treasury, were sentenced along with Omar Faal Keita, a Muslim fortune teller who prosecutors said used spiritual powers to try to ensure the plot's success.

A fourth civilian, former member of parliament Demba Dem, was acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Five other suspects, including the former head of Jammeh's feared National Intelligence Agency, escaped from detention soon after their arrest and the alleged mastermind of the plot, Colonel Ndure Cham, was never caught.

Jammeh has ruled the country of 1.5 million people since seizing power in a bloodless military coup in 1994.

The former wrestler brooks little dissent and human rights groups accuse him of jailing his opponents, political repression and rigging polls -- including a landslide election win last year. He denies the charges.

His administration has detained a number of journalists over the years and press freedom watchdogs accuse it of failing to fully investigate the 2004 death of a leading independent newspaper editor shot dead in his car on the way home from work.