Documentary record Bound by Fear
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Other Indigenous spiritual authority or imitation Kanilai, The Gambia · 2009

Gambia state 'witch-hunt': TRRC finds Jammeh-ordered ritual-cleansing campaign killed dozens

Record class

Institutional event

Evidence status

Official finding

Authority role

head of state who ordered the campaign, state-sponsored traditional healers

Organization

Government of The Gambia (Jammeh administration), Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC)

Spiritual nexus

A claimed occult/witchcraft causation belief triggered a state-organized ritual-cleansing campaign in which invited traditional healers administered a coercive ritual substance that killed detainees.

  • Curse or witchcraft threat
  • Exorcism or deliverance

Evidence structure

Proceedings

  1. 2021-12-24 · official investigation and finding

    Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, The Gambia. The TRRC's final report documented the 2009 state-sponsored witch-hunt campaign in which villagers were detained and forced to drink a concoction administered by 'witch doctors'; Human Rights Watch reported that of those detained, 41 died in custody or shortly thereafter. The Commission recommended prosecution of those most responsible; no criminal conviction has followed.

Documented coercion mechanisms

  • abduction and detention
  • forced ingestion of a ritual concoction

Primary record

Sources

official truth commission report archive official finding Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission of The Gambia, Final Report, Volume 11: 2009 Witch-Hunt Exercise (25 Nov. 2021). [archived copy]

The official TRRC final report (Volume 11) documents the 2009 state witch-hunt campaign ordered under President Jammeh, including the forced ingestion of a concoction and resulting deaths.

contemporaneous human rights reporting finding summary 'Gambia: Commission Uncovered Ex-President's Alleged Crimes', Human Rights Watch, 24 May 2021.

Human Rights Watch summarizes the witch-hunt campaign and reports that of those detained, 41 died in custody or shortly thereafter.

Related record

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