Gambia's President Adama Barrow pardons another 84 two weeks after releasing 174 prisoners

In the bid to sweep up some of the old legacies of Yahya Jammeh, Gambia's new president, Adama Barrow on Thursday pardoned 84 more prisoners from three different jails, a government source told the French News Agency. 

'The Prison high command Thursday released 98 prisoners who were held at Mile Two, Old Jeshwang and Janjanbureh Prisons. They were discharged on the directive of President Adama Barrow,'  the source said.

This comes barely two weeks after the president initially pardoned 174 prisoners.

Among the freed prisoners were rapists, robbers, burglars and people convicted of firearms offences, the source added. Sixteen were foreign nationals from Senegal, Guinea and Sierra Leone.

It was also reported that President Barrow may have been convinced to act after Mai Fatty, the Interior Minister pledged to build facilities in line with international norms after shocking footage emerged of prisoners kept in dark and bare concrete cells.