(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 16 December 2005 CPJ press release: GAMBIA: Police bar journalists from site of editor’s murder on 1st anniversary New York, December 16, 2005 – The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns Gambian authorities for blocking journalists from gathering today at the site of the murder one year ago of […]
(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 16 December 2005 CPJ press release:
GAMBIA: Police bar journalists from site of editor’s murder on 1st anniversary
New York, December 16, 2005 – The Committee to Protect Journalists strongly condemns Gambian authorities for blocking journalists from gathering today at the site of the murder one year ago of prominent editor Deyda Hydara. Police assaulted a reporter who was taking pictures at the site.
The journalists tried to visit the site at the end of a two-day international conference on press freedom in the capital Banjul, organized by the Gambia Press Union (GPU).
Police seized the camera of Ramatoulie Charreh, a reporter for the private Daily Observer, who was taking photographs at the site, according to conference participants. They twisted her arms until she lost consciousness. She was taken to the hospital but later recovered. Police denied access to the journalists, saying they had orders to prevent “demonstrations.”
“It is outrageous that the Gambian authorities should prevent journalists from gathering at the scene of the brutal killing of a respected colleague,” said CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper. “We can only conclude that the authorities are deeply embarrassed by their signal failure to bring Deyda Hydara’s killers to justice.”
Hydara, managing editor and co-owner of the independent newspaper The Point, as well as a correspondent for Agence France-Presse and Reporters Without Borders, was shot in the head by unidentified assailants while he drove home from his office in Banjul, late on December 16, 2004. He was a leading campaigner against repressive media laws and a frequent critic of President Yahya Jammeh. Official investigations into his murder have not produced any serious results.
In a message to the Banjul conference today, CPJ joined calls by local and international press freedom activists for renewed efforts to bring Hydara’s murderers to justice. The message was read to the conference by CPJ’s West Africa correspondent Tidiane Sy. Click here to read the statement:
http://www.cpj.org/news/2005/Gambia16dec05na.html#statement
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.cpj.org
