Sarra Jawla lying on a small-size mattress on the floor in his room in Brikamaba following his discharge from Bansang Hospital
NB: Some of the photos in this story are disturbing, viewer discretion is warned
Mustapha Ceesay
Two different medical records prepared at the Bansang Hospital in the Central River Region have concluded that Sarra Jawla, 24-year-old and native of Brikamaba suspected of being in possession of Cannabis Sativa at the time of his arrest, has suffered a “second degree injury” on his heels, buttocks, right-hand and genital organ.
Family members, witnesses and others in Brikamaba whom this reporter engaged, alleged that the young man, during his arrest, was assaulted by some operatives of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency of The Gambia [DLEAG] stationed in Bansang.
In the first medical record, the diagnosis of the 24-year-old on 13th September 2021, the day he was brought into the facility supposedly by the drug law enforcement operatives who reportedly arrested him in Brikamaba, stated that the suspect suffered a 2nd degree injury with bruises on his “buttocks” and “penis”.
The document attributed the injuries to the suspect’s refusal arrest by the operatives; but has no prescriptions or signature of the health practitioner who examined him [Jawla].
Medical Record 1
The information in the second medical record dated 14th September 2021 also showed that the Brikamaba native suffered “injury second degree assault”.
The said document has prescriptions and the signature of the health practitioner believed to have seen the patient during his admission at the facility under the escort of the officers, following his arrest on suspicion of being in possession of the prohibited substance.
Medical Record 2
An account of the incident
Sarra was arrested on 13th September at the Jakhally Taxi garage, a location not very far from Brikamaba police station.
“I left home at night to a shop at the junction [Jakhally Taxi garage] to buy a cup of coffee. When I bought the coffee, I sat down and began drinking it. At that junction, I saw some men coming. They came and gripped me upon arrival. Then, I did not know their identity because they did not tell me who they were. When they gripped me, I struggled to escape them, but they succeeded in putting my right hand in a cuff. The cuff later injured my hand. In their vehicle, they forcefully put me from my head to the waist, while the rest remained lying on the ground and they commanded the driver to move. The driver drove off from the junction to the police station, which is about 500 metres. When the vehicle was moving, the rest of my body was dragging on the tarred road that injured my heels and buttocks. While I was in that state, one of the officers called Barry continuously grabbed and pulled my manhood to an extent that I had to surrender, lest he would remove it. From the police station, they rushed me to the Bansang hospital on (Monday) 13th September 2021 and I got admitted on Monday, Tuesday and on Wednesday, I was discharged,” the victim on 27th September in Brikamaba, gave this medium an account of his arrest by people he later knew as the operatives of the Drug Law Enforcement Agency of The Gambia, commonly called ‘the Drug Squad’.
Another part of the suspect’s body injured by the alleged dragging
Due to the strategic location of the arrest scene, Jawla’s encounter with the operatives attracted a score of onlookers. One of them is a man who spoke to Kerr Fatou based on anonymity. He feared that the officers might target him for speaking against them.
“He came to Amadou Wurry’s shop and found me sitting. He bought a cup of coffee and then called me. We exchanged pleasantries and I went to the charging centre because there was no electricity by then everywhere was dark. I sat there chatting; all of a sudden, I saw two children running and saw women running. Then I rushed there to find out what was going on. I found many gathered at one place, then I asked them but no one was able to tell me exactly what was going on. I then saw Sarra in the hands of about four to five men, hitting him and Sarra told them to leave him and he was asking them ‘what have I done?’ They responded, ‘you don’t know what you did, but you will know when you reach the vehicle.’ Sarra told them that he wanted to know before he reached where they were taking him.
“I wanted to get closer to them and they stopped me. I asked them what happened and why they were all gripping Sarra like that. They told me that something happened that’s why they are all gripping him like that. They told me they seized drugs from him. That was the time I told them, even if you seize drugs from him, it is not right for you to grip him like that. I told them even if he killed somebody, it is not right for you to drag him like that. I told them ‘we should give one another’s rights because we are all brothers and sisters’, but they do not understand,” he said in his account of the event.
The young witness narrated continuing his efforts to maintain peace; but said they continued forcefully dragging Sarra; while he kept asking them what he did wrong, they insisted not to tell him until they reached the vehicle.
“I saw them dragging him and heard them saying ‘this boy is very rude’. They dragged him from the Taxi garage up to the police station. From the taxi garage to the police station is almost 500 meters long,” the witness narrated.
He concluded that when the officers arrived at the police station they stopped, when he was “very angry” that he had to sit down, wondering whether a human being should drag his fellow human being like that, thinking he was dead.
Vehicle purportedly used by the operatives drag the suspect
At Bansang Hospital
Sarra, the suspect turned patient, stayed for almost 72 hours at Bansang hospital for treatment for the injuries he sustained from the “second-degree assault” perpetrated by the DLEAG agents, allegedly.
“During admission at the hospital, the same Barry put my right hand in a cuff, while I was subconscious. The cuff injured the wrist of my hand. It does not function now. I cannot lift or hold anything with it as of now.
“Then the Drug squad officers took me for detention from Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday when my family bailed me. During my detention I had slept in pain with my injuries on a bare concrete floor without medical attention,” he recalled how he was treated at the facility.
Meanwhile, Buba Correa who visited the injured man at the Bansang hospital on the 14th September confirmed seeing personnel of DLEAG sitting next to Sarra monitoring him.
“It was even a little bit late. At first, the security did not allow me entry. They said someone was there already which I later found out as his [Sarra’s] brother, Jalamang. But they [the security personnel at the hospital]later allowed me to enter, after Jalamang left the hospital. Then I met Sarra on his sickbed and I saw another big brother sitting beside him on a plastic chair, wearing spectacles…, which I later found, is a drug squad personnel. I greeted him and he told me his name. I forgot his name, but I can still remember his surname is Barry. Before greeting him, I already set my phone to take pictures of Sarra’s condition. I took pictures of all of his wounds except his private parts. By then I did not know his private part was injured,” he recollected.
Correa also confirmed the officer with the surname Barry later put the right hand of Sarra in a handcuff while in that condition at the hospital, a move he contested.
“I left the hospital before I returned later. I found that Barry already put handcuffs on Sarra’s swollen hand with his sickbed. I asked him (Barry) what he was doing and asked him- ‘how can you (Barry) put handcuffs on someone who is in this kind of situation on a sickbed? I told him that he is in that hospital to guide Sarra so that he will not escape from the hospital but there was no need for him (Barry) to put handcuffs on Sarra again. I told him (Barry) someone who cannot even go to the toilet alone without the help of people, how can you put a handcuff on his hand on his sickbed? He (Barry) was pissed off and even asked who I was and I told him, I am a human being like him (Barry). By then, the doctors only put ink on Sarra’s wounds, and the doctors then asked us to go out for them to attend to him. That’s the time I left the hospital,” said Buba.
Possible cover up
An experienced health officer familiar with the story, Masanneh [not his real name for fear of punishment for speaking to this medium]gave Kerr Fatou a breakdown of the records.
“When he (Sarra) went to the hospital, I have the interest to check his body but more especially I have interest in his medical paper to know whether he had proper medical attention or not, whether the ethics have been applied or not. But to my surprise, I found that all those medical conduct had been deviated, because the first person who attended to him did it between the hours of 10 and 11 pm. He [Doctor] said Sarra is 24 years, that’s correct. He said Sarra is from Brikamaba that also is correct.
“But his history taking [diagnosis]is a cover-up. He said the patient complained of having bruises on his Buttocks, injury on his penis, [and]second-degree assault because he refused to submit to the arrest of the police or the drug law enforcement agency officers, which is not true because Sarra was brought in subconscious. What did not catch my eyes according to our ethical code and standards, if you attend to any patient you should prescribe and the prescription should be completed. [also]Every nurse or medical practitioner in Bansang hospital has his or her index. But the first doctor didn’t sign and prescribe any medicines for him. To me, this is a person who is not medically fit to see cases like this,” Masanneh explained to this reporter.
The health practitioner observed that the alleged assaulters or the doctor most likely or probably prepared the first diagnosis or the latter was ordered to do so.
“This is not Sarra’s statement and Sarra didn’t go with an escort. Sarra was then subconscious; he couldn’t say what was going on. It normally comes from the patient or the escort but history cannot come from the authorities. Sarra went there [Bansang Hospital] alone without any escort. This statement was given in the presence of only Sarra, the drug squad officers and/or the doctor were the ones who did these blunders. The second medical record is credible, but the first record is obtained under duress. What I think is that the police are the ones who asked the doctor to write that statement because he [doctor]did not give him [Sarra] medicine and he didn’t identify himself or sign it,” the health official alleged.
He recommended the hospital should take disciplinary actions against the author of the first record for “professional misconduct because the law does not allow this kind of professional misconduct”.
Family reaction
In many ways, Sarra and his family are affected by his current state of health.
“When they dragged me, my heels sustained injury. That makes walking difficult for me. In addition, the bruises on my buttocks makes sitting difficult for me, and the pain I sustained from the gabbing of my manhood makes the passing of urine painful for me. Frankly, my current situation is inconvenient. I am not useful to anyone. It is the people I used to help who in turn helps me now. I cannot work or sleep. Nowadays, I experience breathing difficulties I had never experienced before this incident. I also experience entire bodily pain including my ribs. See my right hand, it’s swollen (pointing to his injured hand).
Sarra’s right-hand reportedly injured by a handcuff
His brother, Jalamang Jawla, a security officer at a middle school expressed the level of distress the situation caused him and his family.
“It is extremely sad for us as a family. I am a security officer at a school. It has paralysed my job. It almost cost me my job because I am not regular and punctual at work now because I have to be by Sarra’s side to look after him. We live from hand to mouth. Since this assault on Sarra, our means of earning has been affected and our income generation has dwindled. When he was admitted to Bansang hospital, we had suffered. Sometimes, we used to take credit fare from people. Sarra who assists in the sustenance of the family, is in this state due to transgression by others, that is extremely sad for the family,” he lamented.
Worries
The injuries the 24-year-old sustained on his heels, right-hand, buttocks and his genitalia cast a cloud on the future of his sight, productivity and reproductively, among others
“I feel pain from head to toe. I am worried. My biggest worries are if I would be able to walk as usual again; and I do not know the fate of my manhood in future, which is not in a good state, since the assault on me. I am not married and I do not have any children. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I experience partial blindness- I cannot see objects 100%. From bedtime till dawn, my head aches continuously every day, since the encounter…it’s 11 days since I returned home but I couldn’t even walk to the gate of our compound. I have been indoors. I hardly walk or do anything without support. Sometimes, my legs cramped when I tried to stand or walk alone because the muscles in my heels are affected. Sometimes, I tiptoe when walking,” the worried Sarra expressed.
Another worry for Sarra is that, an officer he referred to as ‘A.S.O Sherriffo Bojang’ at Bansang station on 21st September, in a phone conversation, threatened to have him arrested for failing to grant their [officers]request to return to them to facilitate his treatment, when they requested so.
Instead, Sarra told them that when he was in their custody, they could not do that for him and now his family is helping him.
Also worried is Jalamang, who is sceptical whether his brother’s manhood would fit the purpose in the future.
“At the moment, one of our worries is, if he would be able to perform marital function with his manhood injured in the process.
“A man who fends for the family’s survival is today not able to do anything without assistance. To be candid, that has affected the entire family because we are poor. Before this moment, it was us [Sarra and I] who used to struggle to sustain the family. Now that he is in this condition, I cannot leave him behind to go to work. That is extremely sad for us. It has brought us setbacks in our lives,” brother Jalamang emotionally told this reporter while sitting beside his younger brother lying on a mattress on the floor.
The injured heels of Sarra
Call for justice
Sarra is adamant that justice be served to him, failure of which would amount to a “great loss” considering the pain and blood he lost in the process; saying, “Let there be justice because a human being is so dignified to be subjected to such a degrading treatment. I cannot forgive until justice is served because it is against the Gambian law”.
The heavyhearted Jalamang vowed that they would never forgive the perpetrators until they are brought to book.
“This is a setback for him (Sarra). The injuries are severe. We need justice in his case. His right has been violated. Let justice be served to ensure his (Sarra) right is protected. If there is to be court hearings, let it be. Our witnesses are ready to testify anywhere in the world. We will never forgive until justice is served,” he vowed.
Jalamang- expressed his “huge disappointment” in people whose job is to protect their lives and property ended up doing this to them saying, “we never expected this- dragging a human being like a dog”. He alleged that those accused of the crime have not shown any signs of regret since.
Reactions
The incident last month attracted the attention of a renowned and consistent Gambian human rights activist Madi Jobarteh who called for an investigation into the matter to hold to account those responsible.
“…Even if Sarra is a drug trafficker, the state agents have no authority to abuse his rights and dignity in this manner.
“I am hereby putting the National Human Rights Commission, The Gambia on notice, as well as the Director General of Drug Law Enforcement Agency (DLEAG) and the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to investigate this matter with utmost urgency.
“Suspects do not deserve this kind of treatment. No amount of law enrolment requires such brutality against a person who was not armed and already handcuffed and overpowered,” part of his reaction in a Facebook post read.
The Human Rights Commission, [NHRC] could not be reached for comment but Kerr Fatou has gathered that the commission has visited the scene and is investigating the matter.
The spokesperson of the Drug Law enforcement Agency, The Gambia [DLEAG], Ousman Saidybah has confirmed to Kerr Fatou that his office is aware of the event; while stating his agency’s stance towards unlawful conduct by its staff.
“We are very much aware of the said incident. Management’s position is however very clear. We have a zero-tolerance policy towards abuse and excesses by our staff. Part III subpart III of the agency’s code of conduct is very clear. It frowns at the unlawful or unnecessary exercise of authority by staff members in the due execution of their duty. The agency set up a Professional Standard Disciplinary Committee (PSDC) with the sole responsibility of investigating all forms of professional misconduct by our staff. The goal is to ensure that we maintain a high standard of professional conduct and create an avenue for the public to lodge complaints and seek redress. We bring this to public attention because we want them to know that there are avenues where they can lodge complaints and be assured that the matter will be professionally dealt with,” he said in a statement.
Saidybah also gave the agency’s version of the circumstances leading to the arrest of the suspect; after seizing another suspect before him.
“…the officers on that fateful day [13thSeptember] earlier arrested one Musa Jawla with five (5) parcels and two (2) wraps of suspected cannabis. As they proceeded, they encountered a person later identified as Sarra Jawla alias legal. He was carrying a multi-colored bag on his back. He tried to run away but was apprehended by the operatives. Thereafter, a search was conducted on him and they found eighty-eight (88) wraps of suspected Cannabis Sativa. The officers then decided to take him into custody. As they try to get him on board the vehicle, Sarra faced the boys gathered there and said that they should not stand by looking while the officers take him into custody. The officers said that at this point, a push and pull ensued and they faced serious resistance and obstruction. They were pelted with stones from different directions. The vehicle that they used for the said operation even sustained damages. Musa Jawla who was earlier arrested with five (5) parcels and two (2) wraps of suspected Cannabis escaped from lawful custody during the commotion. He is one person who has two pending cases with the agency. One case is currently ongoing in court while he is awaiting trial for the other case,” DLEAG spokesperson added.
Contrary, DLEAG’s claim, Sarra emphatically denied having the prohibited substances in his possession at the time of his arrest. In addition, both Sarra and one of the witnesses disputed the claim that he [Sarra] called on his colleagues and the said colleagues pelted the officers with stones to prevent his arrest.
In respect to a degrading or inhuman treatment, the laws of The Gambia offer protection in Section 21 of the 1997 constitution. The section forbids subjecting a person to torture or inhuman degrading punishment or other treatment