For Immediate Release
June 7, 2016
Frederick, Maryland mom Fanta Darboe Jawara beaten and arrested in April while waiting for a taxi and remains imprisoned
New York, NY — The Richardson Center for Global Engagement calls for the immediate release of Fanta Darboe Jawara, a mother of two from Frederick, Maryland, who was wrongfully arrested in mid-April while visiting family in The Gambia. As reported by The Washington Post today, Mrs. Jawara was arrested two days before she was supposed to return to the United States and is being forcibly detained at the notorious Mile 2 prison, which was targeted in a recent UN report and where freed prisoners report sleeping on hard, concrete floors and being fed cornmeal mixed with dirt.
“Fanta Darboe Jawara went back to The Gambia to see her family for the first time in eleven years and was arrested for being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said former New Mexico Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson. “The Richardson Center calls on the Government of The Gambia to dismiss the specious charges against Ms. Jawara, release her, and allow her to return to her family in Maryland without delay.
