By Mustapha Jallow
Mr Mamadou Sarjo Jallow, the Ex-Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, is still held incommunicado at the National Intelligence 
Agency (NIA) headquarters in Banjul without access to family members, even though the court has ordered for his release.
On 17 October 2016, Justice Otaba of the Special Criminal Division of the High Court in Banjul granted bail to Mr. Sarjo Jallow.
Justice Otaba indicated: “Bail is granted to the applicant in the sum of D200,000 with two Gambian sureties, with a property of the like sum. The accused person must submit his travelling documents to the Principal Registrar of the high court and the sureties should swear to an affidavit of means.”
According to his family, they have been making efforts to secure his release as the court has already granted him bail but he is still held by the authorities. “We were asked to bring his documents to the DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) but how can we produce his documents which were taken away by unknown intruders?” a relative asked.
According to family sources efforts were made to visit him at the NIA but they were not allowed to see him. He added that Jallow’s travelling documents are also taken away by men who came to arrest their loved one.
Information has it that Mr Jallow was picked up by men in plain clothes on Friday, 2 September, 2016 (53 days ago) at his residence at Manjai Kunda. His house, according to his wife, was burgled twice and his laptop taken away during the burglary.
The continuous detention of Mr Jallow led to his family applying for his release. Hence Lawyer Antouman A.B Gaye, filed a motion seeking for an order to unconditionally release him from NIA headquarters in Banjul or grant him bail and the court granted him bail.
Mr. Jallow had served in different positions under the regime of APRC, such as minister of information, ambassador and deputy minister of foreign affairs, but was later dismissed and arrested.
