Yahya Jammeh Accused of Sexual Assault…

Gambia’s ex-president Yahya Jammeh Accused of Rape by Former Gambian pageant Fatou Jallow

Sexual assault against women in parliament is still a significant issue. There are quite a handful of African presidents or congress members who were accused of harassing females.

 

According to reports, 3 other women have  have allegedly consulted the Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International.

From some of the few interviews that we have watched Fatou Toufah says the then president was putting pressure on her to marry him. 

When she refused his marriage proposal, he became more aggressive and threatening.

 

 

RAPE ALLEGATIONS

She was eventually  injected, and sodomized during a religious ceremony hosted at the State House.

This wasn’t the end of the testimony, though. As Jallow was leaving the building after regaining her consciousness, she was threatened by the assistants of Jammeh to keep her silence.

Jallow consequently flew to Senegal where she sought help at Human Rights Watch and was granted protection status. She has since relocated to Canada where she currently resides.

The other women kept their identity confidential, but still carried on with giving testimonies for Human Rights Watch.

 

 

All these interviews had a parallel pattern, that is, Jammeh treated them like objects he could buy. By merely buying them expensive gifts, giving them scholarships or highly-paid jobs at the State House, he was obligating them to have sex with him.

Another victim claimed that a staff member at the State House tried to abduct her for Jammeh to rape, but she escaped.

Gambian Government

APRC Deputy Leader Ousman Rambo Jatta denied the allegations and implied that this was the work of Western corporations who wanted to ruin the reputation of Jammeh who is already in exile.

Yahya Jammeh, who currently lives in Equatorial Guinea, has chosen to remain silent about the allegations.

Human Rights Watch is quite clear about how to react. Reed Brody from HRW stated that everybody is equal in front of the law when it comes to sexual crimes.

 

In the meantime, the Gambian Government has made a call and encouraged the citizens to report any incident of sexual assault committed by Yahya Jammeh or other politicians.

Jammeh’s 22 year of reign is full of accusations such as kidnappings, unresolved murder mysteries, sexual violence, and torture.

An investigation committee is preparing a generalized report for all these acts. Current President Adama Barrow is expecting to receive a final investigation report about the allegations,

but he states that Jammeh will probably be brought back to the Gambia for a trial later this year.