The criminal appeal case filed by Lamin Fatty, a reporter of the banned Independent Newspaper, is expected to resume on November 4, 2008 at the Criminal Division of the Banjul High Court.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) source reports that Fatty is seeking to overturn the conviction slapped on him by the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court presided over by the sacked Magistrate Buba Jawo.

On June 5, 2007 Fatty was convicted and fined D50, 000 or in default serve one year imprisonment for the offence of false publication – a  charge he denied  until he was pronounced guilty by the court. He has since paid the fine with the help of the Gambian Press Union.

Media Foundation for West Africa  

One Lamin Jabang was last Tuesday appeared before Magistrate Pa-Harry Jammeh of the Brikama Magistrates’ Court for robbery and stealing.

According to the particulars of offence on Count One, on 26thOctober at NyambaiForest the accused robbed one Sajuma Jallow.

While on Count 2, the accused Lamin Jabang on the same day, month and year assaulted one Muhammed Konteh by stabbing him with a knife all over his body and after stole his mobile phone valued D2,000.

According to Magistrate Pa-Harry Jammeh he will go through the court file for the accuse’s previous conviction and if he confirms that the accused Lamin Jabang has been sentenced before for the same offence, he will send him to jail on a long sentence.

Hearing continues.

Chuckie Taylor, son of former Liberian president Charles Taylor, was found guilty of torture and related crimes by a US court on Thursday 30 October.

Taylor could face between 20 years to life imprisonment for the crimes he committed in Liberia, while serving as the head of the former Liberian President's Anti Terrorist Unit (ATU). These include the use of electric shocks on the genitals, burning victims with cigarettes and hot irons and melting plastic and rubbing salt into wounds.

According to media reports, sentencing is scheduled for 9 January 2009. The charges Taylor was convicted on cover acts of torture between 1999 and 2003.

This is the first conviction under the US Torture Victim Protection Act since that law was enacted in 1994. Chuckie Taylor is also the first person to be tried and convicted for crimes under international law committed during Liberia's decade-long conflict, which ended in 2003.

The trial of Chuckie Taylor (also known as Roy Belfast, Jr, Charles Taylor II and Charles MacArthur Emmanuel) started on 28 September 2008 in Miami, where he was originally arrested for passport fraud, before the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The federal anti-torture statute authorizes US Federal courts to exercise universal jurisdiction over persons found in the US who are suspected of torture committed anywhere in the world. The statute applies to US citizens and to those present in the United States, regardless of nationality and regardless where the crimes occurred.

Chuckie's trial took place at the same time that his father, Charles Taylor, was on trial at the Special Court for Sierra Leone in The Hague. The former president faces 11 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity he is alleged to have committed in Sierra Leone.

Liberia was embroiled in conflict characterized by war crimes and crimes against humanity between 1989 and 2003. In 2006 a new government came to power. To date, however, no one in Liberia has been investigated and prosecuted for torture or any other crime under international law.

In addition, the Liberian government has failed to enact the necessary legislation defining torture as a crime under national law consistently with the definition in the Convention against Torture. Amnesty International believes that just as prosecutors in the USA have now started to fulfil their responsibilities under the Convention against Torture to investigate and prosecute those alleged to have committed crimes against Liberians, the Liberian government, should without delay, enact the necessary legislation and implement it.

Amnesty International 

Hundreds of people on death row in Nigeria did not have a fair trial and may therefore be innocent, according to a new Amnesty International report.

Nigeria: Waiting for the Hangman, says that those sentenced to death are poor and that more than half of the convictions are based on a confession – in many cases, extracted under torture.

Written in conjunction with Nigerian legal organization, the Legal Defence and Assistance Project (LEDAP), the report also says that Nigeria's criminal justice system is "riddled with corruption, negligence and a nearly criminal lack of resources".

As of February 2008, 725 men and 11 women were on death row in Nigeria. At least 40 of them were under 18. About 53 percent were convicted of murder. Most of the rest were convicted of armed robbery and robbery.

Forty seven percent of death row inmates are waiting for their appeal to be concluded. A quarter of prisoners' appeals have lasted 5 years. Six percent of prisoners with appeals outstanding have waited more than 20 years. One prisoner has spent 24 years on death row.

"It is truly horrifying to think of how many innocent people may have been executed and may still be executed," said Aster van Kregten, Amnesty International's Nigeria researcher, speaking from Abuja. "The judicial system is riddled with flaws that can have devastating consequences. For those accused of capital crimes, the effects are obviously deadly and irreversible."

Life on death row is extremely harsh. Prisoners whose appeals are over are held in cells where they can see executions. After a prisoner has been hanged, other death row prisoners are forced to clean the gallows.

Almost 80 percent of inmates in Nigerian prisons say they have been beaten, threatened with weapons or tortured in police cells. Confessions are often extracted under torture.

"The police are over-stretched and under-resourced," said Aster van Kregten. "Because of this, they rely heavily on confessions to 'solve' crimes – rather than on expensive investigations. Convictions based on such confessions are obviously very unsafe."

"Under Nigerian law, if a suspect confesses under pressure, threat or torture, it cannot be used as evidence in court," said Chino Obiagwu, LEDAP's National Coordinator. "Judges know that there is widespread torture by the police – and yet they continue to sentence suspects to death based on these confessions, leading to many possibly innocent people being sentenced to death."

The poor are at the greatest risk in Nigeria's criminal justice system. Chino Obiagwu says that questions of guilt and innocence are almost irrelevant. "It is all about if you can afford to pay to keep yourself out of the system – whether that means paying the police to adequately investigate your case, paying for a lawyer to defend you or paying to have your name put on a list of those eligible for pardon."

Many prisoners awaiting trial and on death row told Amnesty International and LEDAP that the police picked them up and asked for money to release them. Those who couldn't pay were treated as suspected armed robbers.

Other death row prisoners told Amnesty International that they were arrested when they went to a police station to report a crime they had witnessed. Police demanded money for their release. Sometime police asked for money for fuel, without which they could not visit witnesses or check alibis.

Amnesty International and LEDAP are calling on the Federal Government of Nigeria to abolish the death penalty. The organizations say that pending abolition the government should declare an immediate moratorium on all executions as provided by UN General Assembly resolution 62/149 and commute without delay all death sentences to terms of imprisonment.

Nigeria: 'Waiting for the hangman' available as PDF Download here >>>

Amnesty International

The Banjul High Court yesterday upheld the death sentence imposed to Tabara Samba by the Kanfing Magistrates’ Court following her conviction for the offence of murder.

Tabara Samba following her conviction was sentenced to death by the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court but appealed against the conviction and sentence at the Banjul High Court.

In her judgement Justice Mabel Maame Agyemang, stated that the appellant was arraigned at the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court for murder. She added that the court, after listening to the ten prosecution witnesses, convicted and sentenced the appellant to death.

Justice Mabel Maame Agyemang further stated that appellant appealed against the Magistrates’ Court decision by filing on 24 grounds of appeal at the High Court. She said in the totality of the evidence, the court found that the Magistrates’ conviction and sentence was proper and in accordance with the law. Justice Agyemang therefore upheld the conviction and sentence by the trial Magistrate.

It will be recalled that Tabara Samba was on 7th March 2007 at Old Jashwang said to have poured hot oil on her late husband Ebrima Nyang which resulted in his death. She was subsequently arrested and arraigned at the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court charged with murder. She was later found guilty convicted and sentenced to death.

After his conviction for having sex with a minor, Kebba Ceesay of Tallinding will now dedicate some man-hours to the Gambia Senior Secondary School in Banjul.

Kebba was recently fined D2000 for having carnal knowledge of a girl under the age of consent and will spend 12 months in jail if he defaults in fine payment.

He was found guilty of having sex with the girl after inviting her to his house in Tallinding.

The case was prosecuted by Inspector L. Touray and chaired by Magistrate Kumba Sillah-Camara.

The appeal was in respect of Sisoho’s earlier conviction by the Banjul Magistrates’ Court for issuing two falsified cheques to one Musa Jallow of the Link Enterprises.

The cheques amounted to D533,740.00 and were issued for payment of goods Sisoho had receivedfrom Link Enterprises.

Delivering his judgement on the appeal case, Justice Agim stated that the ex-Gambian Turkey consul was charged with issuing false cheques contrary to section 296A(I) (B) of the Criminal Code (Amendment) Decree No.86 of 1996 which provides that “ any person who issues any cheque in respect of any account with any bank when he has no reasonable ground (proof of which shall be on him) to believe that there are funds or adequate funds in the account to pay the amount specified on the cheque within the normal course of banking business shall be guilty of an offence.”

He added that there is nothing in that section requiring an accused to show reasonable grounds for issuing a false cheque in respect of an account with a bank when he knew that he had no funds in the account to pay the amount specified on the cheque. The provision, continued Justice Agim, had placed on the accused the evidential burden to prove that he had reasonable grounds to believe that there are funds or adequate funds in the account to pay the amount specified in the cheque.

“It did not require that the accused should furnish a reasonable excuse or explanation for issuing a cheque when he knew that he had no money in his account with the bank,”he stated, adding that the said cheque was false because it is issued in respect of an account with a bank by a person who knew very well that he had no funds or sufficient funds in the account to pay the amount specified in the cheque.

“What makes the issuance of the cheque a crime is the fact that the accused had no reasonable grounds to believe that there are funds or adequate funds in the account to pay the amount specified on the cheque and not the purpose for or motive with which the cheque were issued.”

According to Justice Agim, the evidence had established that Sisoho issued the two cheques to Musa Jallow with full knowledge that he had no funds in his account with Standard Chartered Bank’s Banjul branch, then the case against him was proved and his conviction valid.

On the issue of compensation, Justice Agim stated that records also show that Musa Jallow had supplied Sisoho the goods in name of Link Enterprises, saying it is clear from the evidence that Musa Jallow, operating under the name and style of Link Enterprises, had suffered material loss in the consequence of the offence committed by Sisoho.

“In light of the foregoing, I uphold that the conviction of the appellant and the order that the appellant pay the complainant compensation in the sum of D533,740.00 is justified in fact and law”.

“I also hold that the appeal lacks merit and is accordingly dismissed”.

Mr. Kawsu Ceesay, former IEC Chief Electoral Officer, has filed for an appeal against his conviction. The appeal is before the Banjul High Court presided over by Justice M.M. Yemoa.

The case was mentioned yesterday before being adjourned to enable records of proceedings from the Kanifing Magistrates Court to be made available to the court.

It could be recalled that the appellant, Kawsu Ceesay, was recently convicted by Kanifing Magistrates Court and sentenced to a fine of D50,000.00 in default to serve three months imprisonment. He was said to have forged the signature of the former IEC Chairman, Mr Ndondi Njie.

The case was adjourned to 29th May.

The criminal appeal case filed by Lamin Fatty, a reporter with the now shut down Independent newspaper has encountered yet another delay. The appeal case, which was scheduled for mentioned before Justice Na Ceesay Sallah-Wadda of the Banjul High Court, could not proceed at the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court as the typing of the case was yet to be completed.

It could be recalled that Lamin Fatty was sometime last year convicted and sentenced by Magistrate Buba Jawo of the Kanifing Magistrates’ Court to a fine of D50, 000, in default to serve one-year imprisonment. The conviction followed his arrest by the authority and subsequent charge for the offence of publishing false information.

The case was at length adjourned to 11th April 2008 for continuation.