Editor,

Good Morning! My name is Elisabeth Petermichl and I m working in a councelling service for refugees in Vienna, Austria. One of my clients had to leave Gambia because his uncle was involved in an attempted coup.

We are now looking for any proves for his story because the asylum office does not believe him and wants to send him back to Gambia.

Do you have any information about his uncle "saniye/saniey cessey/cessay", the military camp mile seven, "yahya darboe" or a person called "lamin samateh", it would be very helpful if you could send us that information! It would also be helpful if there is information about opposition members having to face cruel treatment because of their political engagement! You would really help us a lot, if you could send me that information! With best regards, Elisabeth Petermichl.

Editor’s Note:

Good morning to you Elizabeth, from sunny peaceful The Gambia. We wish your Gambian client all the best in his attempts to remain in Switzerland.

Nevertheless, we cannot invent slanderous stories about The Gambia because we wish to secure Swiss residency for him. Even if your father, mother, sister or brother is a criminal, you will not be touched in The Gambia because there is due process of law here, just as in Switzerland.

There is no such thing as a "mile seven military camp" for example. We are sorry we cannot help you, but we hope your client gets to remain in Switzerland to work and help his family back home in The Gambia.

But we can absolutely assure you that absolutely nothing, repeat absolutely nothing, will happen to your client when he returns – no one will even know he is here!