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Human Rights Watch: Gambia: Two Decades of Fear and Repression
The 81-page report, “State of Fear: Arbitrary Arrests, Torture, and Killings,” describes the human rights situation in Gambia since President Yahya Jammeh took power in 1994 and ruthlessly repressed all forms of dissent. State security forces and shadowy paramilitary groups carry out unlawful killings and arbitrarily arrest, detain, and forcibly disappear people, causing hundreds to flee the tiny country, best known internationally as a tourist destination. Most of the abuses documented in the report are from 2013 to 2015.
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Gambian security forces frequently arrest people without suspicion or charge, often detaining them secretly for months and even years. Those detained for political reasons, including perceived supporters of the opposition; those who criticize the president or the government; and those implicated in coup attempts, are often subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. Most recently, after a coup attempt in December 2014, dozens of people were forcibly disappeared and allegedly tortured.
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Several victims described torture methods that included severe beatings, rape, near suffocation with plastic bags, electroshock of body parts including genitals, and dripping melted plastic bags onto the skin. Victims also described psychological abuse such as prolonged periods in solitary confinement, mock execution, and repeated threats of torture and death. Most victims and witnesses who spoke to Human Rights Watch identified the Jungulers as responsible for the torture, but many reported that intelligence officials were present or complicit in the abuse.
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Gambians who identify as LGBT or who are perceived as such are regularly the target of Jammeh’s vitriolic hate speech, discriminatory new laws, and arbitrary detention and mistreatment. In May, Jammeh said at a rally that he would “slit the throats” of gay Gambians – the most recent slur in a long history of anti-gay hate speech. After passage of an “aggravated homosexuality” law in October 2014 imposing a life sentence for a series of new offenses, dozens of LGBT people fled the country.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/09/17/gambia-two-decades-fear-and-repression
...
Gambian security forces frequently arrest people without suspicion or charge, often detaining them secretly for months and even years. Those detained for political reasons, including perceived supporters of the opposition; those who criticize the president or the government; and those implicated in coup attempts, are often subjected to torture and other ill-treatment. Most recently, after a coup attempt in December 2014, dozens of people were forcibly disappeared and allegedly tortured.
...
Several victims described torture methods that included severe beatings, rape, near suffocation with plastic bags, electroshock of body parts including genitals, and dripping melted plastic bags onto the skin. Victims also described psychological abuse such as prolonged periods in solitary confinement, mock execution, and repeated threats of torture and death. Most victims and witnesses who spoke to Human Rights Watch identified the Jungulers as responsible for the torture, but many reported that intelligence officials were present or complicit in the abuse.
...
Gambians who identify as LGBT or who are perceived as such are regularly the target of Jammeh’s vitriolic hate speech, discriminatory new laws, and arbitrary detention and mistreatment. In May, Jammeh said at a rally that he would “slit the throats” of gay Gambians – the most recent slur in a long history of anti-gay hate speech. After passage of an “aggravated homosexuality” law in October 2014 imposing a life sentence for a series of new offenses, dozens of LGBT people fled the country.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/09/17/gambia-two-decades-fear-and-repression
