Abdoulaye Sey, the editor-in-chief of the bi-weekly Independent newspaper who was picked up on Friday, September 19, and detained incommunicado until late Monday, September 22, has alleged that personnel of the National Intelligence Agency threatened to kill him if he continued to write critical stories against the Yahyah Jammeh government.
Sey was, indeed, incarcerated at the NIA detention centre in Banjul, in spite of earlier denials by officials of the NIA about knowing his whereabouts.
According to Mr. Sey, he was tortured and made to sleep on the bare floor in a small cell infested with mosquitoes. The NIA agents also interrogated him about an article carried in the September 19 edition of the Independent newspaper, captioned, “Jammeh under the Microscope”, which was considered critical of the President and government.
No official charge has been brought against him.