By Sally Jobe
A popular Gambian rapper and activist, Killa Ace, has been denied a police bail on Monday, his lawyer told journalists at a press conference in Banjul.
The artist was also held incommunicado, said his colleagues, a youth-led civil society movement calling itself Team Gomsa Bopa.
Ace was arrested on Saturday and held at several police station until he was transferred to police headquarters in Banjul. His arrest is in connection to a protest which erupted in Serrakunda in July 2019.
The protest was in response to what several young people described as the killing of Ousman Darboe, a Sierra Leonean national. Darboe, a vendor at the Serrakunda market, was arrested by the police Anti-Crime Unit and detain briefly.
Three days later, he died. Though he was an asthmatic patient, his friends said he died as a result of police torture during his time in detention.
His lawyer Patrick Gomez said he had struggled to see him under the police detention until Monday morning.
Ace was arrested with at least dozen others including 2 Senegalese nationals. They were charged with “willful damage”. It is not clear what specific crime they are charged in relations to.
“We don’t know when he is going to court… All we know is he is at the police headquarters,” Tijan Babou Jaw.
On Monday morning, a team of activists have gathered at the police headquarters asking them to release those arrested or take them to court.
“These people are suspects. They should be either taken to court or be released,” said popular activist Madi Jobarteh.
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