Ex-spy Chief Arrested In Gambia

Gambia’s former spymaster and head of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), Yankuba Badjie, has been arrested.

Rights groups say the NIA was involved in the disappearance and torture of critics of ex-President Yahya Jammeh.

Mr Badjie is the first of Mr Jammeh’s security officials to be taken into custody by the new government.

Mr Jammeh was forced to resign after 22 years in power by The Gambia’s neighbours last month after refusing to accept defeat in December’s elections.

He has now gone into exile in Equatorial Guinea.

Mr Badjie was arrested on Monday along with another former NIA employee.

The agency is cited by Human Rights Watch (HRW) as being an instrument of serious abuses under Mr Jammeh.

In a 2015 report, HRW painted a bleak picture of human rights in The Gambia:

“The government of President Yahya Jammeh frequently committed serious human rights violations including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and torture against those who voiced opposition to the government,” HRW said.

“State security forces most frequently implicated in violations were members of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA).”

According to HRW, those targeted by the intelligence agency included journalists, political opponents, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people, many of whom fled The Gambia out of fear.

BBC