Lawyer Malick Jallow said the lawsuit will “very soon” land on the desk of the High Court
A young lady who was in the same car with Deyda Hydara when he was killed in 2004 has announced she is filling a lawsuit against Gambia Government seeking compensation.
Nyang Sarang Jobe was one of the two eyewitnesses to the murder of the veteran Gambian journalist and she was later taken to Senegal for treatment.
“She was shot on the leg and continue to suffer excruciating pain and very strong physical and psychological distress,” said Jobe lawyer’s Malick Jallow on Tuesday at the Victim Centre.
“What we are seeking is that the High Court compels the Government of the Gambia to provide compensation Nyang Saran Jobe and to also find that the decision to compensate some of the victims of the Deyda Hydara incident and to leave out Nyang is discriminatory and is in violation of her human rights as enshrined in the 1997 constitution.”
However, Jallow was not specific as to how much monetary compensation they will be looking for.
The family of the killed journalist Hydara was compensated by the regional court in Abuja $50, 000, half of which is already paid by Government.
Lawyer Jallow said it is discriminatory for Government to ignore Jobe while family of Hydara was compensated, both of whom are victims of the same state sanction attack.
The Barrow administration has inherited millions of Dalasi of legal liabilities including $200, 000 torture suit won by journalist Musa Saidykhan and $100, 000 also to be paid to the family of killed journalist Ebrima Manneh.
However, since the fall of the former dictator Yahya Jammeh, Jobe has become the first victim to file a lawsuit against Government for a crime committed under the former dictator.
Jallow said Jobe has reach out to Government through the Justice Ministry but all she gets was a “vague pledge”.
Gambia Government has recently established a Truth, Reconciliation and Reparation Commission (TRRC) to deal with the human rights violations of the past.
The Commission is yet to commence sitting but Jallow said despite the lawsuit, Jobe will cooperate with the TRRC.