The Gambia government has been ordered to pay D3.5m to seven youths for “unlawful detention” at Mile Two Central Prison. 

The unnamed youths were reported to have been “unlawfully detained” for six months at the state prison. 

A compensation claim was brought to the High Court in Banjul on behalf of the seven youths by Lawyer A.K. Ceesay of the National Agency for Legal Aid (NALA). He made an application for the court to award D500,000 as damages to each of them.

The government did not contest the compensation claim and conceded that the youths were unlawfully detained at Mike Two Prison.  

Justice Aminata Saho-Ceesay ordered the state to compensate the detained youths. 

In her ruling Justice Saho-Ceesay said the state had acted “unlawfully in detaining the youths at Mile Two Prison”

She added: “gone are the days when people would be detained unlawfully. You have to pay damages for keeping them there. We are no more in the era of unlawful detention.”