A politician who was detained by the Jammeh government has recounted her traumatic ordeal at the notorious NIA headquarters.

Fatoumatta Jawara, National Assembly Member for Tallinding was testifying before the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission on Tuesday.

Ms Jawara, a member of the United Democratic Party, was arrested and detained alongside the late Solo Sandeng and other activists in April 2016 for calling for electoral reforms during a rare protest against the Jammeh dictatorship.

She told the Commission that at the NIA she was kicked by a tall man who wore military trousers and dragged her out of the interrogation room to the torture room.

“This man grabbed me from where I was sitting then turned back and went…around. When he took me there, they stretched me on top of a table, they pour water on me,” she said.

Ms Jawara said her headscarf was used to blindfold her by the NIA personnel before she was tortured.

“I was stretched on a table and they were pouring water on me, I couldn’t breath nor move, so some of them held my hand and some of them held my leg and some started beaten me up.”

She said the torturers were beaten every part of her body until she fainted and later they took her before a panel for interrogation.

Ms Jawara told the Commission that she could not breathed properly as the headscarf was used to tie her face.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba