{"id":242,"date":"2019-09-08T16:45:23","date_gmt":"2019-09-08T16:45:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/gambia\/?p=242"},"modified":"2019-09-08T16:45:23","modified_gmt":"2019-09-08T16:45:23","slug":"group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk","title":{"rendered":"Group Says It Has Information Melville Has Applied For Asylum In UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

#BringMelvilleToJustice has said it has received information Melville Roberts has applied for asylum in the United Kingdom.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Melville Roberts, a top official at the ministry of foreign affairs, is wanted by police over a series of sexual misconduct allegations that have been made against him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The group that is advocating for him to be punished said in a statement on Friday they have received reliable information that Melville has applied for asylum in the UK \u201cbut we are committed to make sure he is sent back to The Gambia to face charges in a court of law.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group said: \u201cA couple of weeks ago, we stood up for a cause and started a journey to demand justice for innocent young women who allegedly have been abused and raped by Melville Roberts who used to work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the revelations against him and the alleged crimes committed as well as alleged history of sexual abuse, the Gambia Government suspended his diplomatic status and ordered him to report back to The Gambia within seven days.<\/p>\n

\u201cMelville Roberts has refused to return back to The Gambia to answer to his victims and alleged crimes of rape and sexual assault.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince then, we have restlessly, with the help of lawyers, worked with the police and Ministry of Justice to build up a case against him. We also took the further step of contacting all relevant institutions to take up the matter.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we write this, the Government of The Gambia, through the Ministry of Justice has revoked his diplomatic immunity and the Ministry has passed on the case to the police for further investigations.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have received reliable information that Melville has applied for asylum in the UK but we are committed to make sure he is sent back to The Gambia to face charges in a court of law.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have not and will not give up on this fight until we get justice for the young women and other victims of rape and sexual assault in our societies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe need to hold Melville accountable is significant for, not only his victims but for the entire society, today and tomorrow.<\/p>\n

\u201cSexual violence remains a present and clear danger to young women in this country. There is a huge cloak of silence on the issue because of deep-seated sociocultural beliefs that continue to disadvantage women in the face of massive violations of their rights and dignity as human beings.<\/p>\n

\u201cHence if we succeed to get Melville Roberts tried in a court of law, it will serve as a warning to all those perpetrators of sexual violence to either stop or face justice someday soon. This will only serve to enhance the protection of girls and women from abuse, it will also promote the bigger issue of equality and empowerment of women and girls in our society.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the basis of our determination to pursue this matter for which we ask all Gambians to also join the crusade to end sexual violence in our society.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Roberts declined a request by The Fatu Network for him to comment on the issue claiming the outlet has been reporting bogus stories about him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

#BringMelvilleToJustice has said it has received information Melville Roberts has applied for asylum in the United Kingdom. Melville Roberts, a top official at the ministry of foreign affairs, is wanted by police over a series of sexual misconduct allegations that have been made against him. The group that is advocating for him to be punished […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,8],"tags":[193,192],"class_list":["post-242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-a-top-official-at-the-ministry-of-foreign-affairs","tag-melville-roberts"],"yoast_head":"\nGroup Says It Has Information Melville Has Applied For Asylum In UK - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"#BringMelvilleToJustice has said it has received information Melville Roberts has applied for asylum in the United Kingdom.Melville Roberts, a top official at the ministry of foreign affairs, is wanted by police over a series of sexual misconduct allegations that have been made against him.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Group Says It Has Information Melville Has Applied For Asylum In UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"#BringMelvilleToJustice has said it has received information Melville Roberts has applied for asylum in the United Kingdom.Melville Roberts, a top official at the ministry of foreign affairs, is wanted by police over a series of sexual misconduct allegations that have been made against him.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-09-08T16:45:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/2019\/09\/MELVILLE.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"450\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"adama\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"adama\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"adama\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/a7488a69bb91ed4cb95c78165665a7c2\"},\"headline\":\"Group Says It Has Information Melville Has Applied For Asylum In UK\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-09-08T16:45:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk\"},\"wordCount\":545,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/2019\/09\/MELVILLE.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"a top official at the ministry of foreign affairs\",\"Melville Roberts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"homepage-english\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/group-says-it-has-information-melville-has-applied-for-asylum-in-uk\",\"name\":\"Group Says It Has Information Melville Has Applied For Asylum In UK - 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