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Momodou
Denmark
11525 Posts |
 Posted - 05 Feb 2015 : 09:55:58
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Gainako News: Alleged Coup Plotters Released Conditionally!
By Yero Jallow
February 5, 2015
Alleged Coup Plotters in the Gambia on December 30th 2014, Alhagie Saidy Barrow and Papa Faal were released conditionally today in St. Paul and Minneapolis Federal Court houses respectively. Barrow and Faal are charged for allegedly violating the U.S Neutrality ACT, after an attempted coup to dislodge the tyrannical regime of Yaya AJJ Jammeh. This reporter was in court and files this report for readers.
Both defendants were represented by their lawyers. The court hearing was accompanied by tumulus solidarity from cross-section of Gambians in Minnesota and out of State.......
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11525 Posts |
Posted - 06 Feb 2015 : 09:03:33
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WHO WILL SAVE THE CHILDREN FROM DETENTION IN CONNECTION WITH 30TH DECEMBER? THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE THEIR PROTECTOR ACCORDING TO THE CHILDREN’S ACT
Foroyaa Editorial: Published on February 5, 2015
Foroyaa has been reporting on the long detention of children because of their relation to alleged insurgents. They are missing school and have not been seen by the relatives who expressed concern. Foroyaa strongly recommends that the relatives should go to the Department of Social Welfare to lodge a Complaint.
The reason for this is simple. Section 66 of the Children’s Act states that “It is the duty of the Government to
1.a) Safeguard, protect and promote the welfare of children”
It adds that “the Department of Social Welfare ……………is responsible for the Welfare of children.”
Children are human beings with rights. Section 5 of the Children’s Act states that “in addition to the rights guaranteed under Chapter 4 of the Constitution Of The Republic of The Gambia, every child” has additional rights. According to section 10 “…../no child shall be subject to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy, family life, home correspondence or attacks on his or her honour or reputation.”
Clearly, to detain a child for more than 72 hours without charge or court appearance constitutes an arbitrary and unlawful interference with his family life.
Such a child has the right to protection of law. Lawyers who are human rights defenders should voluntarily take up such cases before the high in order to enable it to enforce such rights.
Source: Foroyaa |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11525 Posts |
Posted - 13 Feb 2015 : 08:42:02
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Sidi Sanneh: Cherno Njie granted bail
Thursday, February 12, 2015
Mr. Cherno Njie, the Gambian-American Texas businessman accused of being the financier and mastermind of the 30th December 2014 events that was designed to remove the dictatorial regime of Yaya Jammeh has been granted bail by a Minneapolis court judge.
The bail conditions granted to Mr. Njie are similar to those accorded to earlier defendants in the same case. The difference in his case is, unlike Papa Faal and Alhagie Barrow, he will be able to run his business using his cell phone, the same facility denied to the others.
Regarding the use of the internet too, the court has decided that while Mr. Njie cannot use the internet directly, he can use a third party. He can, therefore, hire someone who can use the internet as directed by Mr. Njie.........
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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kobo
United Kingdom
7765 Posts |
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Momodou
Denmark
11525 Posts |
Posted - 23 Mar 2015 : 18:13:22
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Banka Manneh Charged In the US In Relation To State House Attack
By Modou Nyang
Foroyaa: Published on March 23, 2015
Banka Manneh is the latest target in the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) continuing probe into the events of the December 30th State House attack. Manneh, was, on Wednesday, 18th March, in a Federal court in St. Paul, Minnesota, charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit a felony, court papers reveal. He is being jointly charged with Cherno Njie and Alagie Barrow for “Conspiracy to Make an Expedition against a friendly nation,” and “Conspiracy to Use a firearm during and in relation to crime of violence.”
Manneh, who lives in Jonesboro, a city in the U.S. state of Georgia, is alleged to have conspired with Njie and Barrow all residents of the U.S., and others, to overthrow the Government of the Gambia. In a new indictment that ties Manneh to the charges against Njie, Barrow, and Papa Faal, a U.S. grand Jury alleges that he purchased two pistols and a rifle “to equip coconspirators participating in the coup.”
The charge against Manneh said he participated in conference calls and exchange of documents with his co-conspirators. “In these communications”, the charge said, “Njie, Barrow, and Manneh and others discussed operational and logistical planning for the attempted overthrow of the Gambian government.” Manneh is also said to have sent Njie a list of would be leadership positions that were to be filled should the operation have succeeded.
“On or about May 29, 2014,” the charge outlined, “defendant Manneh provided defendant Njie with a document identifying leadership positions in the government of The Gambia that would be filled after the coup”.
All three are standing trial for violating the U.S. neutrality Act that forbids U.S. citizens and residents from seeking to overthrow or use violence against countries with whom the U.S. is not at war with.
The charges carry 4 to 5 years of imprisonment or fines of up to $100,000.
Manneh’s arraignment has led to a dramatic shift in the FBI’s probe of U.S. based Gambians involvement in the armed attacked. Shortly following Faal and Njie’s arrest, Manneh was questioned by federal agents but was not arrested. He later had to resign his position in a Diaspora pro-democracy advocacy group for undisclosed reasons.
Following the attack on the State House on December 30th 2014, that resulted to deaths, Faal an airman and retired sergeant in the U.S. air force, and Njie a businessman and real estate developer who were in the country at the time, fled back to the U.S. where they were arrested and put on trial. Faal has since pleaded guilty to the same charges and is awaiting sentencing. Barrow, who was the last to return to the U.S. was also arrested and put on trial. Both Njie and Barrow are currently on bail, they are expected back in court in May.
Manneh is the latest target of FBI’s raid, search, confiscation of computers, arrest and preferring of charges. |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11525 Posts |
Posted - 05 May 2015 : 13:18:20
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In U.S. Trial: Banka Manneh, Alagie Barrow to Plead Guilty
By Modou Nyang, New York
Foroyaa: Published on May 4, 2015
Banka Manneh and Alagie Barrow, co-accused in the U.S. for plotting to overthrow the government of the Gambia, have decided to change their pleas from not guilty to guilty, authorities associated with the case confirm. Manneh, will tomorrow appear in court for his change of plea hearing, whilst Barrow’s is scheduled to take place on Monday, May 11.“A guilty plea will be offered to the judge,” said Mark D. Larsen attorney for Banka Manneh in a telephone interview. Larsen said it is left to the prosecution (U.S. government) to accept the plea bargain or not. Responding to the question as to whether a change to a guilty plea is what is in the best interest of his client, Larsen said that it is for Manneh to say. He however said Manneh needs to agree to the change.
Barrow’s attorney Robert D. Richman will not comment on the case arguing about the lack of control on how authorities in the Gambia uses the information. “We are not interested in the publicity of the case in the Gambia,” Richman said, after verifying the purpose of the call. “The government uses the information in a way that we cannot control.”
Ben Petok, Director of Communications at the Minnesota U.S. District Attorney’s office, said the prosecution will accept the change of plea offer. “It is the right of defendants to decide they want to change their plea.”
Manneh and Barrow, third and second accused persons, are facing two count conspiracy charges of violating the U.S. Neutrality Act and “use [of] a firearm during a crime of violence,” in an attempt to overthrow the government of the Gambia. If the court confirms their change of pleas, they will join Papa Faal in pleading guilty to the charges against them. Faal, who is currently awaiting sentencing after changing an earlier not guilty plea to guilty, was together with Cherno Njie, the first to be arraigned in relation to this case.
Njie, the first accused in this case, still maintains a not guilty plea. His trial is due in June.
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11525 Posts |
Posted - 01 Jun 2015 : 08:46:43
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How a reviled African ruler survived a coup hatched in the United States
By Craig Whitlock and Adam Goldman
Washington Post: May 31 at 8:46 PM
MINNEAPOLIS — Every other Saturday evening, the coup-plotters excused themselves from their wives and kids to join a conference call. The half-
dozen dissidents — all middle-aged men, most with military experience — dialed in from their suburban homes scattered across the South and Midwest.
There were operational details to discuss, logistical hurdles to overcome. How would they smuggle rifles and night-vision goggles to Gambia, the tiny West African country from which they were exiled? Was their $221,000 budget enough to topple the brutal strongman who had ruled Gambia for two decades?
In the predawn hours of
Dec. 30, according to court documents and interviews with people involved in the operation, the U.S.-based conspirators teamed with other dissidents to assault the Gambian presidential palace. They expected to find it lightly guarded. Instead, they ran into an ambush. Four people were killed. Those who survived fled the country.
Afterward, the Justice Department charged four U.S. residents with taking part in or supporting the failed coup, saying they had violated the Neutrality Act of 1794, an obscure law that prohibits Americans from taking up arms against countries that enjoy peaceful relations with the United States.
What the U.S. government did not disclose, however, was that it had been monitoring the plotters and had secretly tipped off West African authorities to the travel of at least one of them. In doing so, U.S. officials may have at least indirectly helped to protect the president of Gambia, Yahya Jammeh, who has drawn international condemnation for his dismal human rights record, his violent rhetoric against gay people and bizarre beliefs such as his claim to have concocted an herbal cure for AIDS.....................
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A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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Momodou
Denmark
11525 Posts |
Posted - 13 May 2016 : 15:20:36
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4 Americans sentenced for trying to overthrow Gambia’s president
The Point: Friday, May 13, 2016
 Four American citizens accused of helping to plan a failed coup in The Gambia against President Yahya Jammeh more than a year ago have been sentenced by a Minnesota judge, who has carried out the first prosecution using the country’s Neutrality Act in 35 years.
The individuals include Texas businessman Cherno Njie, who allegedly funded the operation; Minnesota resident Papa Faal; and 41-year-old Alagie Barrow.
All three individuals were charged last January with conspiring to violate the Neutrality Act, a law enacted in 1974 that prevents US citizens from taking action against a friendly nation.
They were also charged with conspiring to possess firearms to pursue a violent crime.
Njie was sentenced to one year and one day, three years probation and a $10,000 fine.
Faal was sentenced to time served over the last year. Barrow received six months in prison and three years probation. All had faced maximum penalties of up to 20 years in prison.
The fourth defendant, US-based Gambian activist Banka Manneh, was indicted after a separate investigation accused him of assisting with the coup plot. He was accused of having “participated in conference calls and exchanged planning documents with the other members of the conspiracy,” and having “purchased two pistols and one rifle to equip co-conspirators participating in the coup.” He was also charged with violating the Neutrality Act.
The last time a case was prosecuted under the Neutrality Act was in 1981 against two individuals accused of a coup attempt in the Caribbean island nation of Dominica.
The coup saga in The Gambia unfolded during the early hours of December 30, 2014 when a small group of armed men snuck through the borders of the small West African nation and made their way to the capital city Banjul, while Jammeh was out of the country.
As they attempted to storm the state house they were met with heavy gunfire from security forces, squashing the coup, and killing at least four assailants.
Many of the men were Gambians who had fled abroad living in countries like the US, UK, and Germany.
The assailants, referred to by the Gambian diaspora and dissident factions as “freedom fighters,” included former Gambian military officials and even a US soldier. Njaga Jagne, killed in the firefight, was a Kentucky national Guard member, while Lamin Sanneh, was trained at the UK’s Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst and previously served as commander of Gambia’s presidential guard.
Faal and Barrow managed to survive and flee across the border into Senegal — which surrounds the coastal country to the north, south, and east. After his escape, Faal went directly to the US embassy in Dakar where he gave an interview before making his way back to the US, officials said.
He was later interviewed again by the FBI at the airport in Washington DC. He was charged in January.
Barrow has been accused of hiding out with Njie at an unidentified location in the Gambia while the operation against the statehouse took place.
The investigation said they planned to enter the statehouse once the mission was complete and place Njie in power. The pair also managed to escape and make it back to the US before being charged and indicted.
After news of the coup broke, the US State Department condemned what they called an attempt to overthrow the government through “extra-constitutional means,” and called on all sides to “refrain from further violence.”
Manneh, a long-time activist in the Gambian diaspora, was the last to be charged after the FBI investigation alleged he had participated and assisted in planning the coup, although he did not travel to The Gambia to participate.
The investigation detailed accusations that Manneh purchased weapons and participated in outlining a future leadership structure.
Source: Vice News /The Point
Picture: Cherno Njie & Papa Faal |
A clear conscience fears no accusation - proverb from Sierra Leone |
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State House Attack - Coup??
