Delay to missionary workers’ case
ICC Note
Please pray for the two Christian missionaries currently in prison in the West African country of the Gambia . The authorities of Gambia have accused the missionaries of sedition, a crime that carries up to 25 years of imprisonment.
12/16/2008 Gambia (BBC News)-A Scottish missionary and his wife due to appear in court in The Gambia on sedition charges have had their case adjourned, the BBC understands.
Mr Fulton, 60, from Troon, in Ayrshire, and Mrs Fulton, 46, from Torquay, Devon , are Christian missionaries.
They were arrested on 29 November after being accused of undermining the government of The Gambia. Mr Fulton had been working as a chaplain in the mainly Muslim country’s army.
Mr Fulton, who has lived in The Gambia for 12 years, is being held in a different prison, where he is either refusing to eat or unable to eat.
Mr Rae said: “It’s terrible now. I just don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s so unpredictable.
But Mr Rae said: “It is not about the government that he was writing – he is writing a book about his life story, most of which I have read and some of it is highly entertaining but I never read anything about how the government operates or anything like that.”
However, Mr Rae said the book did touch on the difficulties “of being a missionary, or of being anyone out there, trying to do good.”
President Jammeh’s government has been criticised by international rights groups for its attitude to civil liberties, especially freedom of the press.
The country has a secular constitution, but its population is 90% Muslim.
