ECOWAS Court Rules Against Gambia Government In Journalist Saidykhan Torture Case
By Own Correspondent – The Court dismissed the second objection raised by the Gambian authorities, defendant in the case of torture filed by a victim, Musa Saidykhan, a former editor-in-chief of the banned Banjul-based The Independent newspaper.
On June 30, 2009, the Community Court ruled against Gambian government’s first objection asking the court to dismiss Saidykhan case on grounds that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case and also that Saidykhan had also not exhausted all local remedies.
This ruling means that the court will consider in its judgment the clothes that Saidykhan purported to have worn during his alleged torture ordeal as well as his medical records which he tendered during his testimony.
The court has fixed December 21 as the day for the next proceeding.
