Dr. Binneh Minteh argues that the former state prosecutor turned TRRC lead counsel and now presidential aspirant must confront his own role in The Gambia’s history of injustice.
Professor of Criminal Justice, Former Second Lieutenant, The Gambia National Army
Former Second Lieutenant Binneh Minteh, himself once among the alleged November 11, 1994 coup plotters, has again raised serious concerns about the credibility and integrity of former TRRC Lead Counsel, Essa Mbye Faal.
According to Minteh, Mr. Faal’s controversial past as a state prosecutor under the regime of former President Yahya Jammeh continues to cast a long shadow over his public service and political ambitions. Minteh recalls that Faal served as part of the prosecution team that tried and convicted several officers accused in the November 11, 1994 coup attempt, sentencing them to nine years in prison.
Minteh alleges that those convicted were severely tortured before their court appearances, and that their statements were obtained under duress. When the defendants appealed for their statements to be withdrawn or rewritten, Faal—then a State Counsel—and Justice Akamba reportedly rejected the motion, claiming that the statements were given voluntarily.
Among those prosecuted by Mr. Faal were. Staff Sergeant Abu Trawally. Couple Seedy Manjang, Couple Kariba Camara, Sergeant Malick Nyan Kabareh, Couple Omar Njie, and Private Lamin Babai Manneh. Minteh asserts that Faal’s subsequent role as Lead Counsel of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) was both ironic and inappropriate, given his prior involvement in cases linked to alleged human rights abuses.
He further claims that Faal deliberately prevented the November 11 victims from testifying before the TRRC in person, allegedly to conceal his own role and that of others involved in the prosecutions. Instead, their testimonies were accepted only in written form—a decision Minteh views as discriminatory and ethically questionable.
“When we carefully examine the foundation of the TRRC,” Minteh argues, “it becomes evident that the post-2016 revolution, which ended two decades of dictatorship, was hijacked by controversial and corrupt legal actors like Essa Faal, operating under the watch of former Justice Minister Abubacarr Ba Tambadou.”
Minteh questions how Faal, who once presided over cases marked by alleged human rights violations and procedural irregularities, could later be appointed to lead a commission tasked with uncovering the truth about state abuses during that same dictatorship.
“With such a record,” Minteh continues, “Mr. Faal lacks the moral authority and ethical competence to serve as Lead Counsel of a fact-finding body meant to expose the very injustices he once helped to perpetuate.”
Minteh concludes that Faal’s recent presidential ambitions further highlight what he calls “the contradictions of a man who served a criminal state that destroyed lives and subjected Gambians to inhumane conditions.”
He calls on Essa Faal to publicly apologize to Gambians and to reconsider his political aspirations, stating, “No wonder the TRRC report remains in limbo. It may raise more questions about truth, trust, and reliability than it provides answers.”
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