- Gambia’s main opposition leader, Halifa Sallah, has been arrested by police, the National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) party officials have said.
Mr Sallar’s arrest, yesterday, followed his visits to the victims of abductions and torture by President Yahya Jammeh regime last month in the campaign by government to crack its whip on alleged witches.
Local news reports said Mr Sallah who went to Jambur in Kombo village was arrested from his house and he is currently detained at Yundum police station around 35 kilometres from the capital Banjul.
According Senegambia News, Mr Sallah’s fact finding mission to Jambur had nothing to do with politics. "The meeting was not political at all, for we discussed what we went through as innocent villagers," party officials said.
Mr Sallah, who has been arrested on a number of occasions in the past, stood against President Jammeh in the last presidential elections in 2006. Members of his party said the latest arrest was politically motivated and have demanded his immediate release.
Mr Sallah has threatened to take the Gambia government to court last month if arbitrary arrests and torture of innocent people continue in the country. A move that angered the government.
According to Senegambia News, the witch hunters are at an advanced stage, stretching to some coastal villages where fish catches have dramatically dropped. The President has blamed a decline on some people who have spiritually destroyed the viability of the fisheries sector of these coastal villages.
“What angered the president most, according to our sources, is that after convincing the government of Taiwan to invest in building cold stores and fishing projects on the coastal villages, no progress has been made,” a local newspaper said.
Amnesty International published a report last November that said President Jammeh's opponents are subjected to daily rights violations including torture and unlawful arrests. It also detailed a crackdown by authorities on the media.
Gambia has been ruled by President Jammeh since he grabbed power in a bloodless coup in 1994.
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