The names and personal details of pardoned prisoners must be published

Dr. Njogu Bah, one of the "pardoned" prisoners

Foroyaa, a local newspaper affiliated with an opposition party, is reporting that the Jammeh regime "has finally published the list of pardoned prisoners in compliance with the Constitution."

We appreciate the fact that the Jammeh regime has responded to demands that more details of the "pardoned" prisoners be released.

However what is published in Foroyaa is a breakdown of prisoners per crime committed which shows a total number of 237 prisoners released.  We need more details of every prisoner released s that proper accounting of "pardoned" prisoners is conducted.

The dis-aggregation shows that of those pardoned, 26 were in prison for treason, 15 for murder,  7 for robbery, 178 for drug-related offenses, 1 for juvenile rape, 3 for conspiracy and 7 for economic crime and 1 for abuse of office for a total of 237 "pardoned" prisoners.

This number is significantly different from the "three hundred and something" that the Vice President, the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Foreign Affairs were quoted, as a result of which we demanded from the regime to release a list of names of each and every prisoner with their personal details like their date and place of birth, nationality etc.

Gambians and the world must be told of every prisoner released.  The regime of Yaya Jammeh owes it to Gambians and the world because the list of prisoners include Gambians and as well as non-Gambians.