Rights groups demand release of activist

Human rights organisations are demanding the "immediate and unconditional release" of the head of Amnesty International's Gambian section, Mohammed Lamin Sillah, who is being detained by Gambian security authorities since Monday.

In a letter to Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, Amnesty International (AI) called for the release of the activist and requested a meeting between the President and a delegation of the London office. Sillah is also the coordinator of Gambia's Coalition of Human Rights Defenders.

"The arrest of Mohammed Lamin Sillah is an open attack on all human rights defenders in Gambia," the organisation said, adding that it considered the act an attack on AI and its worldwide membership.

"He has been detained solely because of his active work in defending human rights," AI added. It said it considered Sillah a "prisoner of conscience", noting that he might have been arrested because of the "critical comments" he made in a BBC broadcast.

Sillah is being detained without charge, incommunicado, at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in Banjul, AI said.

The organisation also said that opposition supporters have been arrested, including at least 13 members of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), who were arrested earlier this week. They are currently being held in police custody in Brikama, south of Banjul and Mansa Konko, east of Banjul.

The Coalition of Human Rights Defenders has also called for Sillah's release, threatening to take the matter to court to secure the release of Sillah.

"It is now more than 72 hours since he was arrested. They have to prove that he is wrong and that should be done in court," an official from the coalition told IRIN on Thursday.

According to the official, Sillah was picked from his office on Monday afternoon by NIA who issued "no arrest warrant". "They only told him to accompany them for questioning," the official said.

In a statement on Wednesday the coalition challenged President Jammeh to reflect his call for reconciliation "in action and not just in words". They called for a stop to unwarranted intimidation and harassment of citizens and
human rights defenders.