(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has called for the release of freelance journalist and pro-democracy activist Fatou Jaw Manneh, who was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency on 28 March 2007 on her arrival at Banjul international airport. “No warrants or court appearances, a disregard for legality and a complete lack of transparency – these […]
(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has called for the release of freelance journalist and pro-democracy activist Fatou Jaw Manneh, who was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency on 28 March 2007 on her arrival at Banjul international airport.
“No warrants or court appearances, a disregard for legality and a complete lack of transparency – these are the hallmarks of the NIA, the president’s iron fist,” the press freedom organisation said. “Opposition to President Yahya Jammeh or the expression of dissident views has become a high-risk undertaking that can catapult anyone, especially journalists, into the lawless world of Gambia’s prisons.”
A resident of the United States for the past 10 years, Manneh was arrested as she disembarked from a flight from the Senegalese capital of Dakar with the intention of visiting her family. NIA officers arrested her after her presence was reported by a passenger. She was taken to NIA headquarters on Marina Parade, on the Banjul seafront. She has not been charged and the reasons for her arrest are not known.
A former reporter with the privately-owned “Daily Observer”, Manneh is well known for her pro-democracy activism. She writes for several websites and the “Save The Gambia Democracy Project,” an opposition movement.
In 2003, she wrote an article for “The Independent” (a daily newspaper that has been illegally closed by the authorities) that led to its editor, Abdoulie Sey, being illegally detained for three days (see IFEX alerts of 29, 24 and 23 September 2003). Headlined “Jammeh Under The Microscope,” it referred to Gambia’s endemic poverty and corruption and said Jammeh had “failed us all.”
Reporters Without Borders also reiterates its call for the immediate release of “Daily Observer” journalist “Chief” Ebrima Manneh, who went missing on 7 July 2006 (see alerts of 26 February, 18 January 2007, 18 October, 19 and 17 July 2006). The opposition tri-weekly “Foroyaa” revealed in January 2007 that he was being held without trial at the police station in Fatoto, a small town 400 km east of the capital.
He was arrested for unknown reasons shortly after the African Union summit was held in Banjul on 1-2 July 2006. The independent press was accused of trying to spoil the summit and several of its journalists were arrested at the time.
