I blogged recently in a post entitled: Bloody August in The Gambia. Then, there were confirmed indications that The Gambia intended to proceed with further ‘executions’ of death row inmates. In Nigeria, an application was already lodged with the ECOWAS court to determine amongst others, the legality of the action itself and the proposed future plans to carry out further ‘executions’. This drew the ire of the international human rights community. The condemnation was almost total. Now, it appears a halt has been put to further executions being carried out. Read BBC News report here
Whilst this is cheering news of some sorts, reading between the lines of the news report, you get the sense that this has only been suspended, or put in abeyance because of the hue and cry that attended the earlier execution of the 9 death row inmates. For now, this is no more than a window of opportunity to unmask and lift the veil on the Gambia legal system to study the delivery and effectiveness of the justice sector and judicial administration; providing opportunity also for policy, legal and regulatory reforms.
Due legal process and respect for fundamental human rights, remains the surest safeguard to avoid miscarriages of justice; and the possibilities of the innocent being sent to the gallows for offenses they either did not commit, or the police did not properly investigate.
