The Gambia

Annual Report 2008: The Gambia

(MFWA/IFEX) – Yai Dibba and Abdoulie Njokey, both journalists with “The Point”, an independent Banjul-based newspaper, were on 27 March 2008 banned from covering proceedings in the Brikama Magistrates Court. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources in The Gambia reported that the ban followed an accusation from Magistrate E.F. Mbaye who alleged that the […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – Dembo Santang Bojang, President of Kombo Central District Tribunal in the Western Region of The Gambia, on 8 April 2008 warned journalists in the region to stop covering its proceedings or risk going to jail. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that Bojang threatened to hold Modou Jonga, a reporter for […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 28 March 2008, a group of journalists working with privately-owned Banjul-based newspapers were barred from covering President Yahya Jammeh’s annual opening of The Gambia’s Parliament. According to sources in The Gambia, the journalists were told upon arrival at Parliament that since they did not have accreditation cards, they would not be allowed […]

(RSF/IFEX) – On the second anniversary of a police raid on the privately-owned weekly “The Independent”, Reporters Without Borders calls on the government to lift the illegal and unofficial ban that has prevented the newspaper from publishing since March 2006. “By suppressing a newspaper that was often very critical, the government broke the laws that […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – Buya Jammeh, journalist with the pro-government “Daily Observer” newspaper, was on 25 March 2008, dismissed by the newspaper’s management, after he was elected as an executive member of the Gambian Press Union (GPU). Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that Jammeh’s dismissal preceded an earlier directive for him to resign his […]

Attacks on the Press in 2007: The Gambia

(MFWA/IFEX) – The fate of Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist accused of sedition, is uncertain as her case file has gone missing. On 17 March 2008, when the case was called, the trial magistrate, Buba Jawo, said there was no file before him pertaining to the case. MFWA sources reported the case has […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 11 March 2008, the sedition trial against Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist, was delayed further at the Kanifing Magistrate Court as the Magistrate, Babu Jawo, failed to show up in court. It was alleged by the court clerks that Jawo was presiding over the Juvenile Court, but according to sources […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – Since the beginning of March 2008, Gambians have been unable to access the “Freedom Newspaper” (http://www.freedomnewspaper.com/ ), an online Gambian newspaper based in the United States of America, which has been very critical of the administration of President Yahya Jammeh. The “Freedom Newspaper”, which can be accessed outside the boundaries of The Gambia, […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – Five state agents of The Gambia, who were summoned by the ECOWAS Community Court of Justice in Abuja, Nigeria in the ongoing case of a “disappeared” Gambian journalist on March 11, 2008, defied the court’s order and failed to make an appearance. The security agents had been invited by the court to clear […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 10 March 2008, Yahya Dampha, a Gambian journalist who is in exile in Senegal, escaped a kidnapping attempt by suspected agents of the notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA) of The Gambia. Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that at about 12:00 p.m. (local time), three plain-clothed agents of the NIA […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 25 February 2008, Mam Sait Ceesay, a former editor in chief of the “Daily Observer”, a Banjul-based pro-government newspaper, was again arraigned before a Banjul Magistrate Court over charges of publishing false information. The journalist’s appearance in court followed a brief detention on 22 February at the Serious Crime Unit of The […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 28 February 2008, an Appeal court in Banjul adjourned, for the second time, the case of Lamin Fatty, a Gambian newspaper journalist who has been convicted of publishing “false information”. This is because nine months after the journalist’s conviction, the Kanfing magistrate court which convicted the journalist has not been able to […]

Freedom of the Press 2007: The Gambia

(MFWA/IFEX) – Muhamed Oury Bah, a Sierra Leonean journalist and former reporter of the banned Banjul-based “The Independent” newspaper, has fled The Gambia in the face of persecution by agents of the notoriously feared National Intelligence Agency (NIA). He was in the country as a refugee, working as a freelancer. MFWA sources reported that Bah […]