This
question is best answered in the following legal interpretation at both the
international and domestic level. As far as the commission of alleged crimes
under the 22 year regime of Jammeh and his team is concerned, there is no room
for speculation or gossip.
The
Rome Statute, that established the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in
The Hague, contains Article 5. Therein are outlined Crimes within the
Jurisdiction of the said Court and it read as follows; “Jurisdiction of the
Court shall be limited to the most serious crimes of concern to the
international community as a whole. That the court has jurisdiction with
respect to the following; the crime of genocide, Crimes against humanity, War
crimes and the crime of aggression.”
The
focus here is on the Crimes against humanity as per Article 7 (1) (a-k) of the
cited ICC Statute. (a) relates to the offence of murder, (f) on the offence of
torture (i) on Enforced disappearance of Persons, (k) provided for other
inhuman acts of similar character intentionally causing great suffering or
serious injury to body or to mental or physical health
Article
7(1)(a) of the cited ICC Statutes prohibited murder, which is also prohibited
under section 18 of the 1997 Constitution of The Gambia, except on exercise of
lawful order. Murder further provided under section 187 of Criminal Code, Laws
of The Gambia is punishable with death under section 188 therein.
Whereas
Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provided for the right
to life, liberty and security of persons. Article 5 therein prohibited torture
and other forms of cruel and degrading treatment.
Interpretation of Torture
Article
7(2) of ICC Statutes interpreted torture as intentional infliction of severe
pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, upon a person in custody or
under the control of the accuser. This must be balanced against allegations of
torture made by a series of people over the years. Such persons were not
limited to Imam Baba Leigh, who was recently quoted describing one of the darkest
times he went through in the hands of alleged torturers while in state custody
under Jammeh’s regime
Musa
Saidykhan, former editor of the defunct Independent Newspaper also alleged
serious torture visited on him while in state custody, which inspired his legal
suit at the ECOWAS Community Court. The judgment was delivered in his favour,
but Jammeh and his team did not respect it, despite The Gambia being signatory
to statutes and a member of ECOWAS
Other
torture allegations came from opposition United Democratic Party female
supporters such as Fatoumata Jawara, now Member of National Assembly for
Talinding. Ngois Njie was among others arrested in connection with the 14th
April 2016, electoral reform protest, staged under the coordination of late Ebrima
Solo Sanden, who was also allegedly tortured to death while in state custody
Torture
is also condemned by other legal instruments such as the African Commission on
Human and Peoples Rights Resolution for the prohibition and prevention of
torture, cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment in Africa
otherwise called ‘’The Robben Island Guidelines’’.
Part
1(C)- of the guidelines criminalize the offence of torture and it reads;
‘States should ensure that acts which falls within the definition of torture
based on Article 1 of UN Convention Against Torture, are offences within their
national legal systems.’ This begs the question as to whether was criminality
took place in The Gambia under the 22 years of the Jammeh regime as outlined in
the cited legal instruments
Articles
6, 5-20 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights otherwise called
‘The Banjul Charter’’ entered into force on 21st October 1986, also gave
detailed protected fundamental rights freedoms, including the right to life,
liberty, personal security and human dignity free from the offence of torture
and other inhuman, cruel and degrading treatments.
Section
21 of 1997 Constitution of The Gambia, prohibits torture and other cruel
inhuman, degrading treatment and punishments
Enforced disappearance
Still
on Crimes Against Humanity in the Rome Statute Article 7(2) (i) on Enforced
Disappearance of persons means, the arrest, detention or abduction of persons
by or with the authorization, support or acquiescence of a state or political
organization, followed by refusal to acknowledge that deprivation of freedom or
to give information on the fate or where-about of those persons, with the
intention of removing them from the protection of the law for a prolonged
period of time
The
case of Chief Ebrima Manneh, a journalist working for the Daily Observer
Newspaper, Editor and State House Correspondent at the time, went missing
following his arrest and detention in 2006. His whereabouts, following his
abduction from his place of work, have yet to be established.
The
former Kiang East National Assembly Member Mahawa Cham and one Saul Ndow are
alledged to have been abducted from the sister republic of Senegal and
allegedly handed over to the Jammeh regime’s security agents in 2013. Their
whereabouts is also yet to be established
Abduction
runs contrary to 1969 Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaty as it not only
constitutes an offence under international law, but also greatly undermines
state sovereignty and territorial independence of the victim states.
Nothing
prevents states from entering into treaties on such matters such as the return
of fugitives from the law and others considered necessary for the interest and
welfare of states party to such treaties on various matters. This is in line
with Article 38 of Statutes of International Court of Justice (ICJ), which
provides for sources of international law, including treaties as one of the
most important sources of seeking justice.
Section
19 of the 1997 Constitution provided for the right to personal security and
liberty that no one shall be subject to arbitrary arrest, detention, deprived
of his/her liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such
procedures as established by law. Subsection three therein stated that, any
person arrested or detained (a) for the purpose of bringing him/her before the
court in execution of the order of court or (b) upon reasonable suspicion of
his/her having committed or being about to commit a criminal offence under the
laws of The Gambia and who is not released, shall be brought without undue
delay before a court and in any event, within 72 hours. Subsection 6 therein
reads; any person who is unlawfully arrested or detained by any other person
shall be entitled to compensation from that other person or from any other
person or authority on whose behalf that other person was acting.
The
above interpretations must be contrasted with allegations of arrest and
prolonged detention without trial, often leading to allegations of
disappearance during the Jammeh regime.
Other
victims of alleged disappearance; Momodou Lamin Kanyi, alias Kangiba Kanyi, has
been missing for decades now after been allegedly arrested at his house by
state agents under the Jammeh regime. Haruna Jammeh, Masireh Jammeh and Jasaja
Kujabi, are all alleged to have been arrested, detained and are yet to be
accounted for by the Jammeh regime, thus the question mark as outlined
However,
Deyda Hydara, proprietor and managing editor of The Point Newspaper, was
allegedly gunned down while driving home from celebrating the said medium’s
anniversary. His murderers’ have yet to be brought to justice despite
allegations of the involvement of state security agents. Such instances led to
widespread global condemnation of the Jammeh regime.
Presumption Of Innocence
However,
Jammeh and his regime have the right to what the legal pundits call, ‘’Right to
presumption of innocence until the contrary is proved’’ as contained in Article
11 of the International Bill of Rights otherwise called Universal Declaration
of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations resolution on 10th December
1948.
This
Article 11 (1) reads; Anyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be
presumed innocent until proven guilty according to law in a public trial at
which he/he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. (2) said no
one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission
which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law,
at the time when it was committed
Article
10 of the cited UN Human Rights Declaration provided for fair and public
hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal for accused persons
Article
26 of the Banjul Charter also called “African Charter on Human and Peoples
Rights guarantees the independence of courts and improvement of appropriate
national institutions entrusted with the promotion and protection of the rights
and freedoms guaranteed by the cited charter. This is also detailed in the
African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights Principles and guidelines on the
right to fair trial and legal assistance in Africa
Section
24 of 1997 Constitution (1) (a-b), (2-3) (a-e), also made similar right of
innocence and presumption for those accused of committing criminal offence.
Subsection one therein reads; any court or other adjudicating authority
established by law for determination of any criminal trial or matter or for the
determination of the existence or extent of any civil right or obligation,
shall be independent and impartial
Section
18(1-5) of Evidence Act, 1994, Laws of The Gambia further provided the right of
innocence and presumption of such until the contrary is proven
Article
66(1-3) of The Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court
(ICC) also provided for such a presumption and it reads as follows; Everyone
shall be presumed innocent until proved guilty before the court in accordance
with the applicable law and that, the onus is on the prosecution to prove the
guilt of the accused
Article
67(1) (a-i) of the said Rome Statute provided for the rights of the accused
person. It reads as follows; in determination of any charge, the accused shall
be entitled to public hearing, having regards to provisions of this statute to
a fair hearing conducted impartially in line with the cited paragraphs
Evidence for Trial
It’s
obvious for any criminal or civil proceeding to have enough evidence for the
sustenance of the case before the court and this is captured in various legal
instruments including the Rome Statute in Article 69(1-8). It reads; Before
testifying, each witness shall, in accordance with the rules of procedure and
evidence, give an undertaking as to the truthfulness of the evidence to be
given by that witness
Article
69 (3) outlined submission of evidence relevant to the case, whereas (4) gave
relevance and admissibility of evidence inter alia the probative value of the
evidence and any prejudice that such evidence may cause to a fair trial or to a
fair evaluation of a testimony of the witness in accordance with Rules of
Procedure and Evidence
Similar
provisions were made in section 3(1-2) of Evidence Act, Laws of The Gambia on
relevant facts in a case that are admissible and not admissible. Such evidence
will greatly depend on available cases of alleged murder, disappearance without
trace, torture made by various persons, their families, friends or associates
alleged to have taken place over the course of the 22 years that Jammeh and his
team ruled.
Surrender
of Accused Persons
Article
89 (1-3) (a-e) (4) of The Rome Statute outlined procedures for the surrender of
accused persons to stand trial before the said court. Article 89 (1) therein
reads; The Court may transmit a request for the arrest and surrender of a
person together with the material supporting the request as outlined in Article
91 of the statute to any state on the territory of which that person may be
found and shall request the cooperation of that state in the arrest and
surrender of such a person
Article
27(1-2) of the statute provided for Irrelevance of Official Capacity; that is,
it did not recognize official capacity either being a head of state or diplomat
or government officials. These are not a bar to the jurisdiction of the court
to those wanted for such crimes as outlined in the jurisdiction of the court on
criminal offence therein
Should The Complementary Role Of ICC Be
Invoked?
There
exists in the world of International Criminal Law, what we called
‘Complementary jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is
inspired by the need to end impunity, especially where national or domestic
courts lack the capacity or the will to prosecute such crimes listed under the
jurisdiction of the cited court
This
dictates that, the ICC is competent to invest in and try such cases, unless
there is another state that claims jurisdiction over the case. This theory
holds that, states continue to play an important role and that the ICC will
only come in when the state has failed or finds it impossible to assume that
role. It can also intervene if the state shows disinterest or bad faith. It
operates on the bases of where there is no prospect of international criminals
being duly tried in national or domestic courts
By
Sanna Jawara, LLB, Chief Executive Officer -
The
Advocate
