Gambia’s Leader Declares Plans for Mass Executions

[alp227]

Source: NY Times

The eccentric president of Gambia has warned that he will carry out a mass execution of prisoners by mid-September, a threat local journalists and opposition officials said must be taken seriously given his unpredictability and long record of human rights abuses.

President Yahya Jammeh, a former wrestler and army colonel who seized power in the tiny nation 18 years ago, said in a widely reported speech this week that “by the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter.” Amnesty International says 47 people are on death row, including a number of former government officials convicted of “treason” for supposedly plotting to overthrow Mr. Jammeh’s government. The death sentence in Gambia is usually carried out by hanging.

Amnesty said nine prisoners had already been taken from their cells and executed, according to “credible reports” it said it had received. The organization said that the nine were executed Thursday night, and that three of them had previously been convicted of treason.

The editor of the leading opposition newspaper, Foroyaa — himself a regular target of government persecution — said he could not yet confirm the executions late on Friday. “What is clear is that nine people were removed from where they were” on death row, said the editor, Sam Sarr. “We do not yet know what happened to them.”

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/25/world/africa/president-yahya-jammeh-of-gambia-warns-of-mass-executions.html

---

Gee, anyone remember when a certain Republican presidential candidate in our country got applauded for boasting about his record on the death penalty?

[polly7]

1. 'Northern European vacationers' need to ask themselves if those white-sandy beaches are

worth supporting a government Amnesty denounces as torturing, disappearing and arresting journalists, opposition politicians and probably anyone else they please. This is horrible. Something's got to be done to stop it.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. We executed 43 people lass year - is that mass enough?

And that figure is down from the late 90s to the mid 00s. In 1999 we executed 98 people. Texas executed a man with an IQ of 61 this month.

[Dustlawyer]

3. On par with Gambia, I am so ashamed of my state! I need me some Dixie Chicks to feel better!

[Posteritatis]

4. The fact that he announced that at an Eid ceremony is especially appalling. (nt)

[Comrade Grumpy]

5. He's positioning himself for a run at the Texas governorship.