(IPI/IFEX) – In a 28 November 2001 letter to President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, IPI condemned the continued detention of a journalist in The Gambia. According to information provided to IPI, on 21 November, Alhagie Mbye, a senior and well-respected reporter with the private Banjul daily “The Independent” was arrested by members of the National Intelligence […]
(IPI/IFEX) – In a 28 November 2001 letter to President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, IPI condemned the continued detention of a journalist in The Gambia.
According to information provided to IPI, on 21 November, Alhagie Mbye, a senior and well-respected reporter with the private Banjul daily “The Independent” was arrested by members of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) at his residence in Bakoteh and taken to the NIA’s headquarters. Staff at “The Independent” were alerted to the arrest when Mbye called the newspaper’s managing editor, Alagie Yorro Jallow, on his mobile phone and told him that four NIA officers were about to arrest him.
According to a 26 November affidavit signed by Jallow, the managing editor told the journalist not to resist but to inquire into the reason for his arrest. Jallow then states that at 8.35 p.m. (local time), a junior reporter for the newspaper, Musa Jobarteh, who was at Mbye’s residence when the arrest took place, phoned Jallow to say that the journalist had been formally arrested and taken away by the NIA officers.
After the arrest, Jallow visited the NIA offices in a bid to have Mbye released but was merely informed by the desk officer that he was being held. Jallow then states in his affidavit that he continued to visit the offices during the maximum seventy-two hour period that is proscribed for detention by the Gambian constitution. However, even though this period has now expired, Mbye has yet to be released. For this reason, “The Independent” has applied for a writ of habeas corpus, Misc. Appl. No. 122/01, before the courts, in order to force the NIA to release Mbye. The hearing will be held on 29 November and names the NIA and the attorney general as the respondents in the application.
Prior to his arrest, Mbye had written an article highlighting serious electoral fraud. The article stated that thousands of Senegalese were allegedly on the electoral lists for the Gambian presidential elections, which were held on 18 October.
In the past, Mbye has been arrested and detained on a number of occasions. During August he was held by the NIA for three days and in July 2000 he was arrested by plainclothes policemen, only to be later released on bail (see IFEX alert of 1 August 2000).
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– expressing deep concern about Mbye’s continued detention, which is in apparent contravention of the Gambian constitution
– noting that the arrest appears to be a serious abuse of powers by the NIA
– reminding him that Article 7 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states “all are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law”
– further noting that by failing to release Mbye, the Gambian government is disregarding its own laws on the arrest and detention of individuals
– also reminding him that Article 9 of the UDHR states that “no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile”
– remarking that in the present case, Mbye has been arrested on a spurious charge, which amounts to an “arbitrary arrest”
– on the basis of the above, inviting him to release Mbye immediately and to ensure that, in the future, there are proper checks and balances on the security services operating in The Gambia
– stating that by doing so, he will be affirming the right of the media to practise their profession free of harassment and intimidation
Appeals To
H.E. President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh
State House
Banjul, The Gambia
Fax: +220 227 034Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
