Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh

Dr. Amadou Scattred Janneh is a political science professor and human rights defender. A former Minister of Information and Communication for the Gambia government, he was sentenced to life in prison for treason after distributing T-shirts with the slogan "End Dictatorship Now". After international protests from organizations including Amnesty International and an appeal by US activist Jesse Jackson, Janneh was pardoned and expelled to the US in September 2012.

He returned to The Gambia in January 2017 within 24 hours after Dictator Yahya Jammeh was forced out of the country. He continues to be a leading advocate for environmental protection, democracy and human rights in West Africa.

Janneh was born in Gunjur village in the Kombo South district. As a teenager, he began working for Radio Gambia. He later traveled to the U.S., earning a PhD in political science in 1990. He then taught for ten years at the University of Tennessee.

Six months after Janneh's 2003 return to the Gambia to work at the U.S. Embassy, President Yahya Jammeh appointed him as Minister for Information and Communications. Janneh was removed from the post in 2005.

On 18 January 2012 at the conclusion of his trial for treason and sedition, the court found Janneh guilty and gave him a life sentence for printing and distributing 100 t-shirts. The judge stated that he would have preferred to give Janneh a death sentence had it been permitted under Gambian law. He was also sentenced to three years of hard labor for sedition. He was released after spending 15 months in custody, much of it in solitary confinement.

Janneh is the author of “Standing Up Against Injustice: A Memoir”, published in May 2013. He currently teaches political science and international studies at Georgia Southern University in the United States