Abidjan - Senegalese police said that they had arrested General Bora Colley, the man who ran
Gambia's prisons, where human rights groups say perceived
opponents were tortured and in some cases died.
Colley was made the director of prisons by Gambia's former
leader, Yahya Jammeh, who lost an election last month but
refused to step down. Jammeh fled into exile in Equatorial
Guinea last week as a West African regional military force stood
poised to remove him.
Senegal surrounds tiny Gambia on three sides, and it
spearheaded the operation to install opposition figure Adama
Barrow, the election winner. Its police reinforced border checks
following Jammeh's departure.
"These checks led to, among other results, the arrest on
January 25, 2017, of Gambian General Bora Colley by police at the
border checkpoint in Mpack as he attempted to enter
Guinea-Bissau," the police said in a statement.
Colley was later handed over to Senegalese military
authorities, it said. Neither Colley nor any of his associates
could be reached for comment.
Jammeh seized power in a 1994 coup and ruled Gambia for 22
years. His regime grew increasingly brutal and his election
defeat, which he initially acknowledged before a dramatic
reversal a week later, was celebrated across the country.
Colley served as commander of the military camp in Jammeh's
home village of Kanilai. He was appointed director of Gambia's
prisons in 2012.
Human Rights Watch accused Jammeh's government of forced
disappearances, arbitrary detention, and the torture of
journalists, human rights activists, political opponents and
critics. Gay, lesbian and transgender people were also targeted.
Many of those abuses were committed in jails, including the
notorious Mile 2 Central Prison in the capital, Banjul.
More than 90 opposition members were jailed following a wave
of peaceful protests that began last April. Two died while in
custody.
UN officials, who were allowed into the country for the
first time in 2014, found that "torture is a consistent
practice" and "avoiding arrest is a necessary preoccupation for
Gambian citizens".