The Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission has described former president Yahya Jammeh’s HIV/AIDs treatment programme as “a brazen and mendacious” claim which it said led to the death of 31 Gambians.

The Commission said in a statement, as it concludes public hearings on the Jammeh treatment programme, that the former president’s medical intervention was a “gross violations of the rights” of these vulnerable patients.

“The Commission concluded its public hearings on the Presidential Alternative Treatment Programme (PATP). Among other things, I, in my capacity as Chairman, read for the record of the Commission the names of thirty-one individuals who died either during the treatment programme or shortly after leaving it.

“These unfortunate souls, the majority of them citizens of The Gambia, were victims of the State who were lured into the PATP, having been told that the President of The Republic of The Gambia could cure HIV/AIDS, the ailment afflicting these individuals. It was a brazen and mendacious claim. The treatment, in all its manifestations, constituted a gross violation and abuse of the human rights of these patients,” Dr Lamin J Sise, the Commission’s chairman said in a statement.

Below is the list of the individuals that died during and after the treatment. 

During the treatment:

Fatou Ceesay, Nyima Keita, Mariama Jawara, Fatou Sonko, Anago, Lamin Dampha, Adama Jobarteh, Malick Jeng, Lamin Jarjue, Lamin Batiya.

After the treatment:

Haruna Bojang, Amadou Jammeh, Karafa Jarju Ousman, Ansumana Dampha, Musa Dibbasey, Mariama Tamba, Tida Gibba, Kebba Saidy, Ya Fatou Sanyang, Pa Badjie, Rabiatou Bah, Banna Jallow, Olimatou Jammeh, Adama Samba, Fatou Trawalleh, Sunkary Bojang, Saffiatou Sanneh, Lamin Sanneh, Mai Sanneh, Adama Sanneh, Sonah Bah.

Reporting by Adama Makasuba