{"id":85538,"date":"2025-09-06T17:05:29","date_gmt":"2025-09-06T17:05:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims"},"modified":"2025-09-06T17:14:49","modified_gmt":"2025-09-06T17:14:49","slug":"rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims","title":{"rendered":"Rights Group Urges Investigation of Police Torture Claims"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>The Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ) has called for an independent investigation into alleged police abuses during recent protests against the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority\u2019s (PURA) data price floor, which saw 45 people arrested and claims of torture and degrading treatment.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>In a statement issued on Monday, EFSCRJ confirmed that it has formally submitted a letter to the Ministry of Justice, the Gambia Police Force, the Office of National Security, and the National Human Rights Commission, as the group urged these institutions to uphold their duty to protect human rights and ensure accountability.<\/p>\n<p>EFSCRJ expressed deep concern over what it described as an \u201cunlawful crackdown\u201d on peaceful demonstrations held on August 22, 23 and 25 outside PURA offices. The protests, which began lawfully, reportedly escalated into arbitrary arrests, indiscriminate use of teargas, and degrading treatment of detainees, including minors and women.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Centre\u2019s monitoring, detainees endured overcrowded and unhygienic cells, with minors unlawfully held alongside adults. The group further condemned the reported cutting of dreadlocks of activist and rapper Ali Cham, known as Killa Ace, while in Mile 2 Prison, describing it as \u201ca degrading act with no basis in law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Tear gas was also said to have been fired recklessly within the Kanifing Magistrates\u2019 Court premises, an act EFSCRJ said violated both national laws and international policing standards.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese incidents represent blatant violations of the Constitution, the Public Order Act, and human rights treaties binding on The Gambia,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n<p>The Centre demanded an impartial investigation into all violations, accountability for perpetrators, and a clear directive from the Inspector General of Police affirming that stationary public assemblies without processions or loudspeakers do not require permits.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. The Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ) has called for an independent investigation into alleged police abuses during recent protests against the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority\u2019s (PURA) data price floor, which saw 45 people arrested and claims of torture and degrading treatment. In a statement issued on Monday, EFSCRJ [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":85537,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-85538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Rights Group Urges Investigation of Police Torture Claims - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ) has called for an independent investigation into alle ...\" \/>\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\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rights Group Urges Investigation of Police Torture Claims\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Edward Francis Small Centre for Rights and Justice (EFSCRJ) has called for an independent investigation into alle ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims\" \/>\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=\"2025-09-06T17:05:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-09-06T17:14:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1757166227.102006.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 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\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Rights Group Urges Investigation of Police Torture Claims\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-09-06T17:05:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-09-06T17:14:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims\"},\"wordCount\":300,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2025\/09\/sm_1757166227.102006.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"community\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/rights-group-urges-investigation-of-police-torture-claims\",\"name\":\"Rights Group Urges Investigation of Police Torture Claims - 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