The European Union called Sunday for an "immediate halt” to executions in Gambia after reports that President Yahya Jammeh had begun carrying out a threat to clear death row by mid-September."I strongly condemn the executions which have reportedly taken place ... and I demand the immediate halt of executions,” EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement.Rights watchdog Amnesty International said Friday it had "received credible reports that nine persons were executed last night in Gambia and that more persons are under threat of imminent executions today and in the coming days.”Jammeh said in an address to mark this year’s Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr last Sunday: "By the middle of next month, all the death sentences would have been carried out to the letter."There is no way my government will allow 99 percent of the population to be held to ransom by criminals,” he said.According to Amnesty those executed included a woman and two Senegalese citizens.