Gambia News : ECOWAS court continues hearing on Gambian journalist’s torture case

Jul 09,2010 00:00 by lamin

The ECOWAS Community Court on Thursday continued with the hearing of a case of torture brought against the Gambian authorities by a victim, Musa Saidykhan, a Gambian journalist now in exile.

Saidykhan, a former editor-in-chief of the banned Banjul-based The Independent newspaper was among several victims who were illegally detained and suffered all manner of cruelty at the hands of the Gambian security agents in the aftermath of an alleged coup attempt in March 2006.

At the last hearing on June 3, Saidykhan painted a gory picture of how he was tortured by members of President Yahya Jammeh’s security guard and he became unconscious for about thirty minutes. He was crossed examined together with a Senegalese medical doctor who treated him after he fled The Gambia.

At the Thursday hearing, the court is expected to adopt written addressees filed by both parties before fixing a date to deliver its verdict.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) initiated the action on Saidykhan’s behalf in order to seek justice for him.