Dear Sir,

I would like to thank you for any single minute of your busy schedule and precious time taken to read this letter. On behalf of the numerous voices and the outpouring of support in the form of protests letters from numerous dissidents across the globe as well as reputable human rights organizations, I urge you to kindly stop the deportation proceedings against our colleague, Abdou Karim Sanneh. Mr. Sanneh has always been and remains a very outspoken journalist who like many of us, was forced by the brutal regime of the Gambian dictator Yaya Jammeh to flee the country for fear of his life. While the circumstances of each asylum petition might be different, elsewhere around the world, immigration court judges have now been completely convinced that numerous reports, information and supporting documents submitted by asylum seekers based on the human rights abuse of journalists and ordinary Gambians since President Yaya Jammeh came to power are indeed, factual.

Mr. Abdou Karim Sanneh has not made any mistake in choosing Great Britain for his safety. Since 1994 the relationship between the government of Yaya Jammeh and members of the media has always remain tense. The regime has forced most journalists into exile while some were murdered in a Hollywood style scenario. The brutal murder of doyen Gambian journalist and co-founder of the privately owned The Point newspaper; Mr. Deyda Hydra in December 2004 is a case in point. The government has not done anything to find those responsible, which clearly tells every Gambian that those who killed Hydra are nestled within the corridors of state power. Some are still missing and The Gambia government denies they are in custody while they are all packed up in undisclosed stone-age jails known only to President Yahya Jammeh and his gang of bandits. The lucky ones are those of us now writing for the voiceless Gambians living with fear and an uncertain future.

In 2007, Ms. Fatou Jaw Manneh, a U S based Gambian dissident journalist who went home to attend her deceased father’s funeral rites was arrested and charged with sedition. She spent almost two years in a kangaroo court. Predictably, the Kangaroo Court convicted her and fined Fatou $2000.The most recent case involves one of the nation’s veteran journalists, Reuters West and Central Africa Dean, Mr. Pap Saine accused of reporting false information. He is now awaiting a similar trial based on false charges orchestrated to further muzzle an already emasculated private press.

Sir, I alluded to some of these excesses and brutalities to acquaint you with the seriousness of Abdou Karim Sanneh’s case should he ever be deported. Please invoke the rule of law established by the United Nation in its UNIVERSAL DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS. Article 14 (1), which states “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution”. Doubtless to argue, that a perusal of your own personal history will weight in these precarious circumstances facing our dissident comrade.

In conclusion, I would remind you of Professor Abdoulaye Saine’s letter in which he suggested, that sending Abdou Karim to The Gambia was akin to “given him to the sharks” This exceptional young man who left every thing dear to him behind, including his country, family and home deserves something better than handing him to President Jammeh’s gang of murderers some of whom are anxiously awaiting Mr. Sanneh’s arrival.

Sir, with hopeful anticipation, we crave your intervention and hope your involvement in this case could help Abdou Karim Sanneh be granted asylum by the court hearing his case.