Alieu Sarr was jailed in The Gambia for being gay. His arrest, trial and conviction generated a swift international outcry. The very law that was used to convict him cost The Gambia membership in the development oriented United States initiative towards poor countries in Africa called American Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA). He was recently acquitted and discharged. He and other members of the LGBT community were tortured mercilessly during their detention.
He sustained injuries and possible long term medical problems from those tortures, and is currently seeking medical help in neighboring Senegal where tests are being performed to determine the nature and seriousness of his medical situation.
During a recent interview with Fatou Camara of Faturadio, he lamented the use of gays by Yahya as pawns in his political game to distract from human rights demands made by the EU. Alieu revealed that there are gays in every high position in The Gambia, they just cannot come out because of the social and security implications for them and their families. He stressed that gays and lesbians could be found among Imams, Protocol Officers, Ministers, Government officials, security chiefs, business owners – basically in every walk of life in that country; many even married and having kids, all in an effort to hide it. “Yahya Jammeh is gay Fatou” Alieu quipped. He said that the only reason Yahya is so obsessed with the LGBT issue is because he is himself one of them and is afraid of admitting it. All this cruelty is a ploy to hide that fact according to him.
Alieu emphasized that his arrest and detention was wrong, but even the way the government itself enforced the unjust law in of itself was unfair on every level. He revealed that the First Lady Zainab’s hair dresser is gay, her uncle based in the country is also gay, and everyone including Yahya Jammeh is aware of this but those were never arrested. He also claimed that two other men accused of being gay, arrested and detained, secured their own release by paying off one Seedy Camara, a National Intelligence Agency (NIA) agent. “Fatou, only poor gays and lesbians are targeted” he said with indignation. So according to him, the application of the law was based on favoritism and not based on any “moral principle” that Yahya claimed to have been his reason.
Alieu chose the interview opportunity to also raise the issue of the conditions in Mile 2 prisons and the unjust treatment being meted out against other political prisoners he left behind, and are still languishing there. Seedy Jaiteh was the former Human Resource Director at Gamtel sent to Mile 2 for being branded a Mandinka who is not loyal to President Yahya Jammeh, and Amadou Sanneh, the United Democratic Party (UDP) Treasurer, sent there based on politically motivated trumped up charges, according to him are shining examples of the biasness of the recent prisoner “pardon”. “If treason convicts and murderers are pardoned, why not Seedy Jaiteh and Amadou Sanneh?” he inquired.
Alieu has promised to dedicate himself to fighting this unjust system because he said Yahya Jammeh has failed The Gambian people. He said the country is very quiet these days because all the young people are leaving for Europe through the risky “Back Way”, with many of them dying on the way. He is ready to join the Diaspora activists to bring about Democracy and the Rule of Law to The Gambia, and he will not shrink an ink from that responsibility. According to him, what he has seen with his own eyes and what he has experienced are enough to convince him that The Gambia is destroyed by Yahya Jammeh and his regime.
