EFSCRJ continues to monitor the unlawful detention of 14 GALA members at the Kairaba and Kotu police stations. Their detention conditions remain deplorable, while their continued incarceration represents a blatant disregard for the law and a gross violation of their fundamental rights.
This morning, GALA provided breakfast to the detainees, who remain in high spirits despite the circumstances.
Access to the detainees is now severely restricted, with heavily armed police in riot gear barricading the gates of the Kairaba Police Station.
At Kotu Police Station, two women detainees, Kaddy Jadama and Maimuna Bah, together with their male colleague Gallas Fallou Ceesay, continue to be held in deplorable conditions. Their detention cells are infested with bedbugs and cockroaches, exposing them to inhumane and degrading treatment.
Overall, the manner of arrest, the conditions of detention, and the treatment of these youths amount to torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. These actions constitute a grave violation of international human rights law as well as the Prohibition and Prevention of Torture Act 2023.
These young people are not terrorists, armed robbers, or insurgents to justify such excessive restrictions and intimidation.
EFSCRJ strongly condemns their continued detention and demands their immediate and unconditional release. We also call for an independent investigation into the unlawful denial of access to the Youth Monument, the subsequent arrests, and the police brutality inflicted on peaceful citizens.
We reject the charges of unlawful assembly and common nuisance as baseless, politically motivated, and intended to suppress dissent and civic activism.
Free the Youths.
Sunday 10 May 2026
