The eldest son of late Lt. Basiru Barrow who was summarily executed by Sanna Sabally and his council members during the November 10 and 11 abortive coup attempt has questioned claims by Sanna that a telephone call was made to Lt. Barrow’s house when the council members arrived at Yundum barracks on that fateful day of 10 November 1994.

Giving his testimony at the TRRC on Thursday 25th April, former vice chairman of the AFPRC Sanna Sabally has told the Commision that following the arrival of the council members and their forces who went to crush the alleged coup attempt at the Yundum barracks, a call was made to the home of late Lt. Barrow to find out about his whereabouts. According to Sabally’s testimony, the caller spoke to the wife of Lt. Barrow who informed them that Barrow was not at home.
However, Lamin Barrow, the eldest son of late Lt. Basiru Barrow who was seven years at the time cast doubt on the veracity of the said phone call as there was telephone line at the home of Barrow at time of the incident.
In a Facebook post, Lamin Barrow queried:
“I have a few questions for Sana Sabally.
“You claimed that to have called Lt Basiru Barrow's house on Nov 10 and you received news that he was not there. How can you call our house back then when we didn't have a telephone line nor was there any army radio communication device installed there?”
Further casting doubt on the truthfulness of Sanna Sabally‘s testimony on the alleged list of names of officers and their families who were to be executed by Lt. Barrow and his group, Lamin Barrow reasoned:
“You claim to have found a book on Lt. Basiru Barrow detailing a list of people to be arrested with their families and taken to the range to be shot. Let me say this, the soldiers your killed on Nov 10/11 all knew your names and they all knew where you lived. The former army commander Babucarr Jatta lives about 500m away from my house at Bakoteh. He and my dad used to frequently visit each other and their wives too did the same. Why would there be a need to put names of people to be killed as you claimed then in a book when your victims knew all of you by name and your places of residence? If this was true how come left us (the victims families) alone? The Gambian people knew you to be an arrogant person who had no respect even for people old enough to be your father as long as your considered them to be your enemies. Why didn't you take us to the firing range? How can this be true when nearly all of your your victims were older than you, more responsible than you as nearly all of them had families they also seniored you in the army therefore, they would not dance to your tunes. They had more compassion than you and you accuse them of having plans to execute you and your families. “
On Sanna Sabally’s testimony that Lt. Basiru Barrow and his team had broken into the Yundum Barracks armoury and removed weapons for the operation to topple the AFPRC junta, Lamin Barrow asked:
“You also claimed that they had broken into the armory. How can this be when you they had no arms when you captured them?”
Sanna Sabally stunned Gambians when he appeared before the TRRC on Wednesday and Thursday to testify on his involvement in the killings of some eleven Officers of The Gambia National Army among other human rights violations during his short stint as the vice chairman of the military junta.
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