(MFWA/IFEX) – On 9 October 2006, a High Court in Banjul unconditionally released Malick Mboob, a journalist and former staff member of the “Daily Observer”, a pro-government newspaper, after he was kept for 139 days in illegal detention for allegedly sending damaging information to an online US-based newspaper. According to a MFWA-Gambia source, the Court’s […]
(MFWA/IFEX) – On 9 October 2006, a High Court in Banjul unconditionally released Malick Mboob, a journalist and former staff member of the “Daily Observer”, a pro-government newspaper, after he was kept for 139 days in illegal detention for allegedly sending damaging information to an online US-based newspaper.
According to a MFWA-Gambia source, the Court’s decision followed a request filed by Mboob’s counsel, Edward Gomez, seeking his unconditional release.
Mboob was one of five journalists who were arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on 26 May for allegedly sending damaging information to a US-based online publication, “Freedom Newspaper”. He was held incommunicado.
Until his arrest, Mboob was the Communications Officer at a government hospital, the Royal Victoria Teaching Hospital (RVTH), in Banjul. He has since being relieved of his duty.
Mboob was released alongside Duta Kamasu, a former Member of Parliament of the ruling party, who was arrested for the same reason. She has also been dismissed from her position as Member of Parliament.
MFWA considers the incessant harassment, arrests and physical attacks on journalists and the media in The Gambia to be a regrettable manifestation of the deliberate intolerance of alternative views by the government. The current spate of arrests represents an attack on media freedom, freedom of expression and human rights generally.
MFWA condemns in no uncertain terms the repressive attitude of the government of President Yahya Jammeh and demands unfettered freedom of speech and respect for the rule of law.
