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Church of Scientology dis-invites activists opposed to dictator of Gambia, Yaya Jammeh.
Gambia News Online: Scientologically speaking
http://gambianewsonline.com/scientologically-speaking-2/
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The purpose of this blog is not to cast aspersions on a religion that most people know every little about. Our purpose is to raise concern about the regime of Yaya Jammeh’s fray into the unknown, led by a band of inexperienced group of individuals who use Gambian Embassies abroad in the guise of courting foreign investors.
But before we do so, we’d like to say a word or two about the Church of Scientology that has recently co-sponsored a gathering in Washington DC in conjunction with Black History Month. Gambian citizens resident in Washington who were RSVPed to attend but later dis-invited when it was discovered that they belonged to a group of activists opposed to the tyrannical regime of Yaya Jammeh, the dictator who’d recently changed the name of his country to the Islamic Republic of The Gambia.
Scientology was recently ruled a religion in U.K. courts but in some parts of Germany, Scientology is banned. In the U.S., its status is unclear but it has gained a significant foothold among the Hollywood class with many big name stars like Tom Cruise, Issac Hayes and John Trivolta are claimed to be members of the Church of Scientology.
According to the Church’s literature, “Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature…” It also teaches that “man is an immortal spiritual being” whose “experience extends well beyond a single lifetime.”
The Gambia’s 21-year dictatorial rule under one of Africa’s most brutal and corrupt has managed to sullied the image of a once respected democratic enclave in a sea of strong-man rule that prevailed in earlier years. As a result of the horrendous human rights record of Yaya Jammeh, development assistance from the European Union has been frozen and funds held in escrow until certain demands are met – demands relating to the continued tortures, forced exiles, disappearances and false imprisonments of dissidents and opponents, real and perceived.
The regime is essentially financially insolvent and thus schemes are being concocted, on the fly, in desperate attempts at looking for “prospective investors” to invest in a country that is at the bottom of the table of The World Bank’s “Doing Business” in Africa and around the world. In a country where the investment climate is not bad but hostile to foreign investors.
As we speak, there are two arbitration cases pending before the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and one judgement against the regime involving a mining concession which they’ve asked the ICSID to review. Some of these unsavory characters who pose as government investment promoters have gone to the extent of adopting fictitious royal titles (like Prince Ebrahim) using the Embassy of The Gambia in Washington as cover with the intention of targeting the unsuspecting and gullible investors in the United States. Buyers beware.
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Same article:
Scientologically speaking
http://sidisanneh.blogspot.com/2016/02/scientologically-speaking.html
_________________________________________________________
Some background:
President Yahya Jammeh: The Worst Dictator You've Never Heard Of
http://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/-pr...the-worst-dictator-youve-never-heard-of/39802
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Gambia now an Islamic republic, says President Yahya Jammeh
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/12/gambia-now-an-islamic-republic-says-president-yahya-jammeh
EDITED TO ADD:
The link to the U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2014 for The Gambia is set forth below. Go to the link to read the entire report. I will excerpt only the Executive Summary.
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2014&dlid=236362
* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *
The Gambia is a multi-party democratic republic. In 2011 voters re-elected President Alhaji Yahya Jammeh to a fourth term in a peaceful, orderly election; however, international observers considered it neither free nor fair. President Jammeh’s party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), continued to dominate the political landscape, winning an overwhelming majority of National Assembly seats in the parliamentary elections in 2012 and in the local government elections held in April 2013. Six of the seven opposition parties boycotted or otherwise did not participate in both the national assembly and local government elections to protest government intervention and intimidation of opponents. Authorities at times failed to maintain effective control over the security forces.
A failed coup on December 30 resulted in the arrest of individuals suspected of participating in the coup as well as family members of alleged coup plotters. Security forces reportedly killed three coup plotters during the coup attempt.
The most serious human rights problems in the country included torture, arrest, detention, and sometimes enforced disappearance of citizens, and government harassment and abuse of its critics. Government officials routinely used various methods of intimidation to retain power.
Other reported human rights problems included poor prison conditions; denial of due process; prolonged pretrial and incommunicado detention; restrictions on privacy and freedoms of speech, press, and assembly; government interference in the practice of religion; corruption; violence against women and girls, including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C); forced child marriage; trafficking in persons, including child prostitution; discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals; and child labor.
While the government took steps to prosecute or punish some individuals who committed abuses, impunity and lack of sustained enforcement remained problems.
* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
Gambia News Online: Scientologically speaking
http://gambianewsonline.com/scientologically-speaking-2/
* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *
The purpose of this blog is not to cast aspersions on a religion that most people know every little about. Our purpose is to raise concern about the regime of Yaya Jammeh’s fray into the unknown, led by a band of inexperienced group of individuals who use Gambian Embassies abroad in the guise of courting foreign investors.
But before we do so, we’d like to say a word or two about the Church of Scientology that has recently co-sponsored a gathering in Washington DC in conjunction with Black History Month. Gambian citizens resident in Washington who were RSVPed to attend but later dis-invited when it was discovered that they belonged to a group of activists opposed to the tyrannical regime of Yaya Jammeh, the dictator who’d recently changed the name of his country to the Islamic Republic of The Gambia.
Scientology was recently ruled a religion in U.K. courts but in some parts of Germany, Scientology is banned. In the U.S., its status is unclear but it has gained a significant foothold among the Hollywood class with many big name stars like Tom Cruise, Issac Hayes and John Trivolta are claimed to be members of the Church of Scientology.
According to the Church’s literature, “Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature…” It also teaches that “man is an immortal spiritual being” whose “experience extends well beyond a single lifetime.”
The Gambia’s 21-year dictatorial rule under one of Africa’s most brutal and corrupt has managed to sullied the image of a once respected democratic enclave in a sea of strong-man rule that prevailed in earlier years. As a result of the horrendous human rights record of Yaya Jammeh, development assistance from the European Union has been frozen and funds held in escrow until certain demands are met – demands relating to the continued tortures, forced exiles, disappearances and false imprisonments of dissidents and opponents, real and perceived.
The regime is essentially financially insolvent and thus schemes are being concocted, on the fly, in desperate attempts at looking for “prospective investors” to invest in a country that is at the bottom of the table of The World Bank’s “Doing Business” in Africa and around the world. In a country where the investment climate is not bad but hostile to foreign investors.
As we speak, there are two arbitration cases pending before the World Bank’s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and one judgement against the regime involving a mining concession which they’ve asked the ICSID to review. Some of these unsavory characters who pose as government investment promoters have gone to the extent of adopting fictitious royal titles (like Prince Ebrahim) using the Embassy of The Gambia in Washington as cover with the intention of targeting the unsuspecting and gullible investors in the United States. Buyers beware.
* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
Same article:
Scientologically speaking
http://sidisanneh.blogspot.com/2016/02/scientologically-speaking.html
_________________________________________________________
Some background:
President Yahya Jammeh: The Worst Dictator You've Never Heard Of
http://www.ozy.com/provocateurs/-pr...the-worst-dictator-youve-never-heard-of/39802
***********
Gambia now an Islamic republic, says President Yahya Jammeh
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/dec/12/gambia-now-an-islamic-republic-says-president-yahya-jammeh
EDITED TO ADD:
The link to the U.S. State Department Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2014 for The Gambia is set forth below. Go to the link to read the entire report. I will excerpt only the Executive Summary.
http://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2014&dlid=236362
* * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *
The Gambia is a multi-party democratic republic. In 2011 voters re-elected President Alhaji Yahya Jammeh to a fourth term in a peaceful, orderly election; however, international observers considered it neither free nor fair. President Jammeh’s party, the Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction (APRC), continued to dominate the political landscape, winning an overwhelming majority of National Assembly seats in the parliamentary elections in 2012 and in the local government elections held in April 2013. Six of the seven opposition parties boycotted or otherwise did not participate in both the national assembly and local government elections to protest government intervention and intimidation of opponents. Authorities at times failed to maintain effective control over the security forces.
A failed coup on December 30 resulted in the arrest of individuals suspected of participating in the coup as well as family members of alleged coup plotters. Security forces reportedly killed three coup plotters during the coup attempt.
The most serious human rights problems in the country included torture, arrest, detention, and sometimes enforced disappearance of citizens, and government harassment and abuse of its critics. Government officials routinely used various methods of intimidation to retain power.
Other reported human rights problems included poor prison conditions; denial of due process; prolonged pretrial and incommunicado detention; restrictions on privacy and freedoms of speech, press, and assembly; government interference in the practice of religion; corruption; violence against women and girls, including female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C); forced child marriage; trafficking in persons, including child prostitution; discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) individuals; and child labor.
While the government took steps to prosecute or punish some individuals who committed abuses, impunity and lack of sustained enforcement remained problems.
* * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *
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