Lamin Sonko, a UDP supporter, has detailed before the TRRC how he and dozens of others were brutally tortured by personnel of the National Intelligence Agency.

Mr Sonko was one of 26 members of the opposition United Democratic Party  arrested in 2016 for staging an electoral reform protest against the Jammeh dictatorship. 

Solo Sandeng, leader of the protest, died in custody as a result of the brutal torture inflicted on him by NIA personnel.

 “They [NIA] tortured me outside, they tied my hands on the iron bar and they poured hot water on me and I screamed: La ilaha ilaha’ and he [NIA officer] said to me ‘La ila laha here’,” Mr Sonko, also known as Fa Lang, said in an emotional testimony to the TRRC. 

“The last person who tortured me was not only beating me but he was insulting my parents and he looks like a Nigerian because he has the ascent of a Nigerian because he doesn’t speak neither Mandinka nor Wollof.”

He continued: “They [NIA] later took me to the questioning room and I was bleeding greatly and they asked me: are you a UDP member and which position do you hold? And I replied that: I am the party’s youth chairman.” 

Reporting by Adama Makasuba