Modou Njie: I was sentenced to death and taken to Mile2, while my father was still at Mile2

By Buba Gagigo

Modou Njie said he was sentenced to death by Yahya Jammeh government for the attempt to take over the State House on 30th December 2014.

Mr Njie revealed that his father too was arrested and detained at the National Intelligence Agency [NIA] but he [his father] was not beaten; but alleged that Major Abdoulie Jobe, Amadou Sowe and Buba Bojang were tortured by the Junglers.

He added that he recognized one of the junglers was one Sambou , while Major Nuha Badjie told him to take them to where their weapons were kept, which he did.

Njie disclosed that he knew Nuha Badjie because all the junglers’ names were under him when he [Njie] served as a clerk at State House.

While at NIA, the witness alleged that one Ousman Jallow, suggested he be taken upstairs to be tortured but Yankuba Badjie rescinded that decision.

Then Counsel Faal asked the witness: For how long were you at the NIA?

 “I was there till I was sentenced by the Court Martial at Fajara Barracks. I was tried as a soldier but I refused to take the letter because I told them that I was no longer a soldier,” he said.

“I was sentenced to death and was taken to Mile2 while my father was still at Mile2,” he added.

The Counsel Faal asked if his father was ever taken to Court following his arrest. The witness responded in the negative.

He said he was released when President Adama Barrow took charge of the country. He added that while in Mile2, he was put on chains and shackles for almost two years and the only time it was removed was when they were going to take bath or urinate.

“There were serious tortures at Mile2 because the likes of Lamin Jah, who testified before the TRRC was tortured till he lost memory of the cell he was held in,” Njie said.

Modou Njie was part of the soldiers who attempted to topple Yahya Jammeh’s democratically elected government on 30^th December in 2014, but failed.

He appeared as a witness at the Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission as a victim of rights violation following his arrest as one of the attackers on December 30th 2014.