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(LEFT) Awa Njie photographed at home in Banjul. Awa is the widow of the Gambian army Lt Abdoulie ‘Dot’ Faal. In 1994, Faal and several others were ambushed by fellow soldiers. Falsely accused of a counter-coup plot, they were tortured and then killed on the orders of the junta leader Yahya Jammeh, who went on to be president.
Awa said “ I was in bed with my baby son, and I woke to see Dot standing by the bed just staring at us. He picked the boy up and hugged him close to his chest, then put him back in the bed. He turned and left...I never saw him again”. After 'Dot' was killed, Awa was threatened by soldiers not to ask questions. She fled into exile with her son to Senegal. She did not know what had happened to 'Dot' until 2019 when his body was exhumed from a mass unmarked grave at Yundum army barracks after witness testimony at the Gambia’s Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) revealed the location.
(RIGHT) Family photos of Lt Abdoulie 'Dot' Faal and their son