Gambian third year University student, who recently exposed police brutality video on her Facebook page, has been declared a missing person in The Gambia, the Freedom Newspaper can reveal. Ms. Aminata Manneh, widely known as ” Minah” was abducted by Gambia’s rogue National Intelligence Agency, the (NIA) agents few days ago, and has since went missing from the public view. Her perceived crime was documenting and also exposing a torture video on social media, involving a personnel of The Gambia police force, who was caught on tape torturing a female school pupil. Ms. Manneh is now being crucified by Yahya Jammeh’s rogue security agents for standing up for the abused girl child.
It was gathered that, Aminata, while on her way to work last Monday, had come across a highly disturbing scene of a Gambian police officer, beating a 10-year old girl with a cane. Manneh couldn’t bear the scene before her, and she took video of the incident, which she later shared with her over 4500 followers on Facebook with the caption” This is a total child right’s violation. Since when does a traffic police officer have a right to lay a hand of a young schoolgirl? What has become of our authorities?”
Predictably, the video went viral and attracted torrents of comments and condemnation from people who felt equally shocked by the police officer’s behaviour and heartlessness towards a defenseless girl.
Jeffrey Smith, an advocacy officer and Human Rights Manager at Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights in New York twitted’’ Just saw a highly disturbing video of a Gambia police officer beating a young school girl in broad daylight. Sadly not an uncommon episode’’.
Aminata Manneh’s parents could not account for her whereabouts. Plain cloth Gambian security agents came for her hours after she posted the video on her Facebook page. The officers forced her to board a waiting tainted car without a registration number. She was told that she was needed by the state in connection with her activities on social media. Aminata has since never returned home.
Aminata’s story is a sad one and without the timely intervention of the international community, she is likely to die in the gallows of dictator Jammeh’s torture chambers. Many Gambians, who disappeared under similar circumstances have never returned home. Many a time, victims of state sponsored abductions are kept under custody indefinitely, or in a worst case scenario, they would be tortured to death. This is why it is crucially imperative for organizations like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Article 19, Democracy Now, the Obama White House, and the UK Home Office to take up poor Aminata Manneh’s case. The world should come to her aid otherwise she risked being missing for good!
Another Gambian lady, who was arrested sometime ago, accused of videoing Jammeh’s soldiers, has disappeared in the thin air. She is widely feared dead. Her case was never reported by the local media.
According to one top Gambian security chief, Aminata Manneh is with the NIA. The official said he feared for Ms. Manneh’s personal safety and security because she was routinely harassed during the NIA interrogations. The official noted that the Freedom Newspaper publication will to some degree save Ms. Manneh from being harmed by her captives.
“Aminata Manneh is with the state. She was abducted from her parents. This government doesn’t value women’s rights. She has been denied food and proper dwelling while under custody. She needs help,” said the top security chief.
” You are right… She is a missing person. She was never served with any arrest warrant. Her parents were also not informed why she was abducted. The nature and method of her abduction is questionable,” he added.
The Gambia is the North Korea of West Africa. The dictator Yahya Jammeh has curtailed free speech and expression. The private press has been reduced as a government gazette. The State House determines what the press should publish or what not.
There are numerous cases of missing persons in The Gambia. Jammeh has total grip of that impoverished West African nation. Gambians are at the mercy of this heartless and corrupt tyrant.