Ousman Sonko

Ousman Sonko
Minister of the Interior
In office
7 May 2012 – 19 September 2016
President Yahya Jammeh
Preceded by Lamin Kaba Bajo
Succeeded by Momodou Alieu Bah
In office
22 November 2006 – 16 April 2012
Preceded by Baboucarr Jatta
Succeeded by Lamin Kaba Bajo
Personal details
Born (1969-01-09) 9 January 1969
Serekunda, the Gambia

Ousman Sonko (born 9 January 1969)[1] is a former Gambian politician. He served as Interior Minister between 2006 and 2016 under the Gambian dictator Yahya Jammeh. During this period he is suspected of taking part in acts of torture, including in detention centers.[2]

Sonko was born in Serekunda. He had a career in the military, starting in 1989.[1] He served as Inspector general of police before being appointed to Interior Minister.[3] He was appointed as Interior Minister on 23 October 2006.[4] On 19 September 2016 Sonko was replaced as Interior Minister by Momodou Alieu Bah.[5]

In September 2016 Sonko fled to Sweden, applying for residency on 21 September.[6] On 26 January 2017 Sonko was arrested in Switzerland, where he had been reportedly living since November 2016, after his request in Sweden had been denied. Sonko was arrested after the rights group TRIAL International filed a complaint against him on the basis of human rights violations.[7][8] At the time of his arrest he was living in a center for asylum seekers. He was detained to investigate the allegations, initially for three months,[9] and for another three months in May 2017.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 "Ousman Sonko Minister of The Interior". Statehouse. Archived from the original on 1 February 2017.
  2. ↑ "Ousman Sonko". TRIAL International. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  3. ↑ Lt. Col. Samsudeen Sarr (15 June 2007). Coup d'etat by the Gambia National Army: July 22, 1994. Xlibris Corporation. pp. 372–. ISBN 978-1-4691-0014-2.
  4. ↑ Bertrand Badie; Dominique Vidal (30 January 2011). El Estado del mundo 2011 / State of the World 2011. Ediciones Akal. pp. 266–. ISBN 978-84-460-3325-7.
  5. ↑ "Gambia: Jammeh appoints pardoned coup plotter as Interior Minister". Africa News. 19 September 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  6. ↑ "Fired Gambian minister flees to Sweden". The Local.se. 23 September 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  7. ↑ "Switzerland arrests ex-Gambian interior minister". News24. 26 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  8. ↑ Julia Crawford (27 January 2017). "Ex-minister's arrest an "important sign" for torture victims". Swiss Info. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  9. ↑ "Gambischer Folter-Minister Sonko kassiert Untersuchungshaft statt Asyl" (in German). Blick.ch. 30 January 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  10. ↑ "Switzerland extends ex-Gambian minister's detention". Swiss Info. 4 May 2017. Retrieved 20 May 2017.
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