Off the wire
• Over 10 tonnes of fake jellyfish seized in east China  • 85 parties to take part in Burkina Faso local polls  • WHO expresses great concern over newborn deaths in Libya  • China says island-building has limited impact on coral reefs  • China's capital account deficit narrows in Q1  • Direct flights considered as Myanmar's president, FM visit neighbor Laos  • Indian stocks edge lower  • Hungary plans further border-tightening: gov't official  • 1st LD-Writethru: China's first home-grown maglev in operation  • Case closed! Missing nature reserve camera stolen by weasels  
You are here: 　 Home

Gambian opposition leader denied bail for 3rd time

Xinhua, May 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

Ousainou Darboe, leader of Gambia's main opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), and 20 other members of the party were denied bail for a third time by the High Court in Banjul on Thursday.

They were arrested on April 16 during a protest over the death in custody of UDP organizing secretary Solo Sandeng and the arrest of some others who were involved in an earlier demonstration.

Sandeng has led the demonstration calling for electoral reforms.

The arrested UDP members were first brought to court on April 20, and are charged with unlawful assembly, riot, incitement of violence, riotously interfering with traffic and holding a procession without a license, and disobeying an order to disperse from an unlawful procession.

They have pleaded not guilty to the charges and their lawyers have spent the past two weeks trying to argue for the court to grant them bail.

Their defense lawyer Hawa Sisay-Sabally also said that part of the charges brought against the arrested should be referred to the Supreme Court, as the High Court in Banjul lacks the jurisdiction.

"I urged this court to refer two of the counts which the applicants have been charged with to the Supreme Court for determination," the defense lawyer said.

The court has been adjourned to May 9. Endi