This month marks exactly seven years since Chief Ebrimah Manneh, a reporter in The Gambia, disappeared. Send a letter now calling for justice in his case!
On 7 July 2006, Chief Manneh was arrested by Gambia National Intelligence Agency officers following an attempt to republish an article he downloaded from the Internet, which was critical of President Yahya Jammeh’s administration.
He has since been globally regarded as a victim of forced disappearance because the Gambian government continues to deny it has custody of him and has clearly refused to conduct any investigations into his whereabouts. Send an email letter now to ECOWAS and Gambian officials!
Gambia’s senior government officials, including President Jammeh, the former Minister of Justice and judicial and police officials, have made conflicting statements about Manneh’s whereabouts. The Minister disputed that Manneh was in custody, while the Attorney General said he was alive – thus indicating the state had some information on him.
In 2007, the MFWA took the Gambian government to court at the regional body – the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) – trying to find answers to his case. The Court ruled the following year that Manneh’s arrest and detention were illegal and ordered the Gambian government to release him and compensate him with US$100,000.
However, five years later, The Gambia still refuses to respect the Court’s ruling. Furthermore, the country has also failed to implement a December 2010 ruling by the ECOWAS Community Court to provide compensation to Musa Saidykhan, the former editor-in-chief of The Independent newspaper, after he was tortured by President Yahya Jammeh’s security agents while in detention in 2006.
On the seventh anniversary of his disappearance, the MFWA calls on the ECOWAS Commission to compel the Gambian government to respect the ECOWAS Court’s ruling on Manneh.
Surrounding the 43rd Summit of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government on 17 and 18 July in Nigeria, MFWA is asking for your support to call on The Gambia to respect freedom of expression and comply with the ECOWAS Court’s decisions.
Join the campaign to ensure The Gambia respects and complies with the regional Court’s decisions. Justice delayed is justice denied.
Fill in the box above right and automatically send an email letter (full text below) to ECOWAS and Gambian officials now!
