The events of April 14 & 16, 2016, were a dark chapter in The Gambia’s history. Ebrima Solo Sandeng, an organising secretary of the opposition United Democratic Party, led a nonviolent protest, demanding electoral reforms and justice. This was a period when the dictatorship was at its peak. The Gambia’s former dictator president, Yahya Jammeh, was holding on to power with an iron fist ahead of the December 2016 elections.
The protestors received a hostile welcome from the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) officers. About 27 UDP members were arrested and taken to the PIU headquarters in Kanifing. Solo Sandeng was arrested alongside Nogoi Njie and Fatoumatta Jawara.
Individuals identified as leaders of this group were taken to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), whilst other arrestees were transported to the Mile 2 Central Prison. At the NIA, Solo Sandeng was subjected to gruesome torture, ultimately resulting in his death.
News of Solo’s death reached the United Democratic Party leadership on April 16. In the early morning that day, the party leader, Ousainu Darboe, broke the news of Solo’s death to his family. Later that day, the party staged a protest, demanding that Solo be produced “dead or alive.” Again, PIU clamped down on the protesters, beating them with batons. About 21 supporters, including Ousainu Darboe, were arrested, convicted, and released after the 2016 presidential elections.
Photo Source: hrw.org
“It’s disheartening to know your father has been beaten to death, and the only thing you can do that day just protests and ask for his body,” said Fatoumatta Sandeng, the daughter of the late Solo Sandeng and founder of Solo Sandeng Foundation, in a Human Rights Watch interview.
Solo’s family went on exile to neighbouring Senegal after his disappearance. In April 2017, his family launched the Solo Sandeng foundation in honour of the late martyr. The non-profit organisation focuses its advocacy on security sector reforms.
Concerning Solo’s death, a Human Rights Watch report dated November 2, 2016, cites an interview Yahya Jammeh did on May 29, 2016, saying, “People die in custody or during interrogations; it’s really common. This time, there is only one dead, and they want investigations. No one can tell me what to do in my country.”
In June 2016, lawyers representing Solo Sandeng filed a habeas corpus. In a court affidavit, the State admitted that Solo Sandeng was dead. According to the Human Rights Watch report referenced above, “shock” and “respiratory failure” were cited as causes of his death.
“While the main issue touches on the life of Solo Sandeng, this application deals with a dead body. This court cannot extend its armpit outside its jurisdiction. The court cannot, therefore, make an order to produce the dead body of Solo Sandeng.
The application is incompetent for the fact that circumstances have overtaken it, and hereby dismissed”, Judge Eunice Dada Osim said in her judgement, dismissing the habeas corpus application.
Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) was set up in 2017 to investigate the human rights violations and abuses that had occurred under Yahya Jammeh’s regime. The commission did not investigate solo’s case as it was already before a court of law. However, rights violations and abuses that had occurred as part of Solo’s case were investigated by the TRRC.
In 2021, the TRRC paid a visit to the NIA premises in Tanji, where Solo Sandeng was buried. At the time of the visit, his remains had already been exhumed and taken to the morgue in Banjul. “I should say secretly buried,” said the TRRC Lead Counsel, Essa Faal, during the commission’s proceedings. “This was not meant to be discovered by the Gambian people, but fortunately, the evidence came out”.
After six years on trial, Solo Sandeng’s killers were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death. The director-general of the NIA, Yankuba Badjie; former NIA operations director, Sheikh Omar Jeng; and other NIA officials – Baboucarr Sallah, Masireh Tamba, and Lamin Darboe, were given the death sentence. Lamin Lang Sangyang, the doctor who forged Solo’s death certificate, was given ten years imprisonment for forgery.
Following the completion of this trial, a state funeral and tribute service was held for Solo Sandeng on January 10, 2023. A large section of Gambians graced this occasion, the majority dedicating a tribute to him on social media. The government, however, received criticisms, as several Gambians shared comments indicating that the system change Solo died for remains an unrealised dream.
The researcher produced this fact-check per the DUBAWA 2023 Kwame KariKari Fellowship partnership with Malagen to facilitate the ethos of “truth” in journalism and enhance media literacy in the country.
