The Gambia

(RSF/IFEX) – A third journalist with the privately-owned biweekly “The Independent”, Lamin M. Fatty, was arrested at his home on 12 April 2006, two weeks after the Criminal Investigation Department closed down the newspaper on 28 March and arrested its managing director, Madi Ceesay, and editor, Musa Saydikhan, who are still being held at the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has voiced alarm at the impunity with which the Gambian government has been able to illegally detain Madi Ceesay, the managing director of the biweekly newspaper “The Independent”, and Musa Saydikhan, its editor, for the past week. The press freedom organization has written to the British, French and US ambassadors […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 30 March 206 CPJ press release: Gambian journalists, still held, say reason for detention unclear New York, March 30, 2006 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply troubled by the detention since early Tuesday of two senior journalists for The Independent private newspaper, whose offices were sealed off […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: Gambian security forces seal off leading newspaper, arrest staff New York, March 28, 2006 – Plainclothes Gambian security agents today sealed the offices of the twice-weekly newspaper The Independent and arrested staffers found on the premises, local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Most of […]

(CJFE/IFEX) – The following is a CJFE media release: CJFE calls for immediate release of Gambian Journalist March 28, 2006 – Police shut down one of The Gambia’s few independent newspapers, “The Independent” this morning. Staff were forced to vacate the office, which was then surrounded by armed guards. The Editor of the newspaper has […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 13 October 2005 the Gambian authorities ordered the management of the independent newspaper “The Point” to discontinue the popular “Good Morning Mr. President” column because it was considered offensive to President Yahaya Jammeh’s government. Following the directive, the column disappeared from subsequent editions of the newspaper. The management of the newspaper, which […]

(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 […]

(RSF/IFEX) – Reporters Without Borders has issued a new appeal to President Yahya Jammeh, on the eve of the first anniversary of journalist Deyda Hydara’s murder on 16 December 2004, urging him to acknowledge the Gambian investigators’ inability to solve the case and asking him to request the help of a neutral foreign police force. […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – The Gambian ministry responsible for Communication, Information and Technology, in a press release issued on October 25, 2005, revoked the licence issued to Sud Communications Company Ltd, which gave it the legal mandate to operate a radio station in The Gambia. The statement also warned that the government of The Gambia would not […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 27 October 2005 CPJ press release: CPJ concerned by harassment of Gambian editor Murder story may have sparked interrogation New York, October 27, 2005 – The editor of The Independent newspaper was detained today and interrogated for several hours by Gambian state intelligence agents, who instructed him to return […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a CPJ press release: GAMBIA: Government shutters Senegalese-owned radio station New York, October 24, 2005 – Police shut down the Gambian branch of Senegalese private radio station Sud FM on Saturday, according to international news reports and local sources. In an interview on Sunday with the BBC, acting Gambian Information […]

(MFWA/IFEX) – On 21 July 2005, President Yahya Jammeh renewed his threats against journalists working for private media and foreign news outlets in his country. The threats were made during an exclusive interview granted to Gambia TV, the state broadcaster, on the eve of celebrations marking his 22 July 1994 coup d’etat. According to an […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced renewed concern about government tactics as the National Assembly amended libel and sedition laws on 23 June 2005, introducing crippling fines against newspapers and increased prison terms for journalists. RSF appealed to the international community and in particular Britain, which takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union on […]

(RSF/IFEX) – RSF has voiced “revulsion” at a government-orchestrated campaign to smear murdered journalist Deyda Hydara following the release of a report by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on its ongoing investigation into his death. The report is full of gratuitous detail about the journalist’s private life and absurd theories about the motives for the […]

(RSF/IFEX) – The following is a 16 May 2005 RSF statement: Deyda Hydara: the murder of a journalist under surveillance Click here for the full report: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=13790 In its second report on the murder of Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara, released today, Reporters Without Borders has contributed an important new element to the investigation, namely that […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 16 May 2005 CPJ press release: In the Gambia, The Independent forced to stop publishing New York, May 16, 2005 – The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the biweekly newspaper The Independent, which lost its printing press in an unsolved arson in April 2004, has been […]