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.

The Gambia is a small West African country. It was colonized by the British. You would naturally expect the people to be inheritors of the British common law traditions of justice, equity and fairness. Ironically, The Gambia is headquarters to several human rights, regional and continental organizations. The Gambia president’s disdain for the rule of law is legendary.

Torture, unlawful detention of journalists and extra-judicial killings has been the hallmark of his administration since taking over power in a 1994 coup. Even so, the execution of 9 death row inmates last month took the human rights record of The Gambia, and Jammeh’s presidency to an all time  low. Read report in the Nigerian guardian here.  This is in a country where common law principles and Islamic practises intertwine.

It is yet unclear the level of judicial transparency, fairness and justice that the ‘executed’ inmates were exposed to, or provided in the course of their trials. What is certain however, is that, The Gambian judiciary is not entirely as independent as it should be. We do not yet know the extent the inmates were granted due processes. If the recent application lodged with the ECOWAS court of justice on behalf of 2 Nigerians, being amongst  the remainder 48 inmates slated for execution, is anything to go by, then the appeal process in The Gambia leaves much to be desired.

There is everything wrong with a system that produces such skewed outcomes, preceding the denial of basic rights of innocence, fair trial before an independent judiciary; rights of appeal and to legal representation; right to seek all legitimate avenues of redress when those avenues are yet to be exhausted. The Gambia is a member of the ECOWAS commission and is bound by the decisions of the ECOWAS court; even though with a very poor record of compliance with judgements of the court.

The application by the 2 Nigerians before the ECOWAS court will test the court’s jurisdictional capacity with respect to domestic criminal matters, as well as, the extent to which The Gambia government is prepared to flout and undermine the international community. Read report entitled: The Gambia sued over Execution of Nigerianhttp://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/the-gambia-sued-over-execution-of-nigerians/124840/

The international community is waiting and watching patiently as to the outcome of the threat to proceed with the ‘execution’ of the remainder inmates on death row.