CASE N° GMB/04 - BUBA SAMURA - GAMBIA

Resolution adopted without a vote by the Inter-Parliamentary Council
at its 167th session (Jakarta, 21 October 2000)

The Inter-Parliamentary Council,

Having before it the case of Mr. Buba Samura, an incumbent member of the National Assembly of the Gambia, which has been the subject of a study and report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians in accordance with the “Procedure for the examination and treatment by the Inter-Parliamentary Union of communications concerning violations of human rights of parliamentarians”,

Taking note of the report of the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians (CL/167/12(c)-R.1), which contains a detailed outline of the case,

Also taking note of the report of the Secretary General on his mission to the Gambia from 15 to 17 June 2000,

Considering that, on 10 and 11 April 2000, student demonstrations took place and turned violent with armed individuals shooting at the students and killing several of them; Mr. Buba Samura, an opposition member of the National Assembly, was arrested on 11 April 2000 by a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) police officer while travelling from Brikama to Banjul and was taken to Brikama police station, where a person allegedly belonging to the “22 July Movement” identified him as somebody who should be detained because he supported the demonstrators, which Mr. Samura denied; he was then taken to the commanding officers, who asked the alleged member of the “22 July Movement” to find a witness who could identify Mr. Samura as a supporter of the demonstrators; meanwhile, Mr. Samura was ordered to sit in the sun for the next four hours, after which a person came up and confirmed that he, Mr. Samura, was the person who had expressed support for the demonstrators, which he again denied; he was then transferred to army headquarters and from there taken by National Intelligence Agency staff to NIA Headquarters, where he was placed in detention,

Considering that Mr. Samura was kept incommunicado in a bare mosquito-ridden concrete cell without any toilet facility and given food only once a day; he was released on 17 April 2000,

Recalling that, according to Article 19 of the Constitution of the Gambia, any person arrested or detained must be informed within three hours at most of the reasons for the arrest and of his or her right to legal counsel, and must be brought before a court within 72 hours,

Also recalling that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, to which the Gambia is a party, prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention,

1. Expresses deep concern at the arrest and detention of Mr. Samura, which it can but consider to be arbitrary given that he was held without charge far beyond the constitutional 72-hour limit;
2. Recalls that, under Article 9, paragraph 5, of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the Gambia has subscribed, any victim of unlawful arrest or detention shall have an enforceable right to compensation;
3. Wishes to ascertain whether the NIA Headquarters is a legally authorised detention centre, and recalls that, under the international human rights norms to which the Gambia has subscribed, detained persons must be held in authorised detention centres;
4. Expresses concern at the scant respect shown by the administrative authorities for the National Assembly, whose authorities remained unaware of the fate of one of its members until his release;
5. Requests the Secretary General to convey this decision to the competent Gambian authorities;
6. Requests the Committee on the Human Rights of Parliamentarians to continue examining this case and report to it at its next session (April 2001).

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