The family of a man detained on suspicion of leading a coup attempt in Gambia has called on authorities to release him and denied that he was involved in an attempt against President Adama Barrow.
Sanna Fadera was arrested last week along with three other military officers as part of what the government described as a plot to overthrow the president. Three other suspects have since been arrested, although none have been charged.
«Since my brother’s arrest, we have not heard from him and we are worried,» Alia Fadera, Sanna’s sister, told the BBC. «His house and farm were searched by the army, but no weapons were found,» she added.
Fadera was arrested in the capital, Banjul, before being transferred to his village, Kiang Nema, 155 kilometers from the city. Alia Fadera said that the man lived in the village with his wife and four children and added that he traveled daily to Banjul to work.
«The whole village is shocked and when the military truck arrived, most of the villagers came out to see what was going on. I call on the authorities to release my brother,» he said.
Barrow was sworn in January for a second term after the Supreme Court rejected in late December the appeal filed by the main opposition candidate against the official results of the December 4, 2021 elections.
The president won re-election despite the fact that this meant breaking his promise of only three years in office — which expired in 2020 — after reaching a controversial alliance with the party of former dictator Yahya Jamé and after some allies left his side to run against him.
The incumbent, who claimed victory in December 2016 after running as an independent with the support of Jamé’s opposition groups, was sworn in in January 2017 after the dictator went into exile in Equatorial Guinea after initially rejecting his defeat, leading to a threat of military intervention by the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
