The ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria dismissed the second objection raised by the Gambian authorities, defendant in the case of torture filed by a victim, Musa Saidykhan, a former editor-in-chief of the banned Banjul-based The Independent newspaper.
On June 30, 2009, the Community Court ruled against Gambian government’s first objection asking the court to dismiss Saidykhan case on grounds that the court had no jurisdiction to hear the case and also that Saidykhan had also not exhausted all local remedies.
This ruling meant that the court would consider in its judgment the clothing that Saidykhan wore during his torture ordeal as well as his medical records which he tendered during his evidence.
The court has fixed December 21 as the day it would deliver its judgment.