The Gambia

(IPI/IFEX) – In an 18 July 2001 letter to Gambian President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, IPI expressed its concern over the recent assault of a journalist by members of The Gambian military. According to information provided to IPI, on 12 July, Omar Bah, court reporter with “The Independent” newspaper, was attacked by soldiers when he attempted […]

(IPI/IFEX) – The following is an IPI press release: Vienna, 9 March 2001 IPI Releases Report on Gambian National Media Commission Bill, 1999 The International Press Institute (IPI) today released a report examining the repressive provisions contained in the National Media Commission Bill, 1999 (“NMCB, 1999”). A Bill that the government of President Yahya A.J.J. […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 15 August 2000 letter to President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, CPJ expressed its outrage at the recent arson attack against the editorial offices of the Banjul-based private broadcaster Radio 1 FM. While a police investigation is ongoing, sources in The Gambia told CPJ that the attack might have come in response to […]

(AMARC/IFEX) – AMARC has condemned the brutal attack on George Christensen and Radio One FM in Banjul. According to his family, Christensen, the owner and proprietor of Radio One, escaped with substantial burns to his face and body when his radio station was attacked on the morning of Thursday 10 August 2000 by unidentified thugs. […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Minister of the Interior Lamin Bajo, RSF protested the attack on the offices of private radio station Radio One. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard denounced “this serious attack on press freedom,” recalling that this was the first incident of its kind in The Gambia. The organisation asked the minister to […]

(RSF/IFEX) – In a letter to Attorney General Pap Cheyassin Seck, RSF expressed its concern about the harassment of Baba Galleh Jallow and Alhagie Mbye, editor-in-chief and journalist, respectively, with the private bi-weekly “The Independent”. RSF asked the attorney general to give the exact motives for the harassment of the two journalists. Robert Ménard, the […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – In a 10 July 2000 letter to Gambian President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, CPJ expressed its deep concern about recent press freedom violations in The Gambia, including the prosecution of one journalist on murder charges. Based on the organisation’s investigation into the abuses related in this letter, CPJ has come to the unfortunate conclusion […]

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – A case which the Gambian authorities have been dragging out since February 1998 was finally resolved on 3 July 2000, when a judge ruled in favour of an independent radio station. In February 1998, Baboucar Gaye, the proprietor of Citizen FM, a private radio station, was arrested by the police and briefly […]

**A new case and update to IFEX alert of 21 June 2000** (IFJ/IFEX) – In a 21 June 2000 letter to Colonel Yahya Jammeh, the IFJ expressed deep concern about the detention of Madi Ceesay, editor with “The Gambia News and Report” magazine, and the recent harassment of two journalists from the “Daily Observer”. The […]

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – In a 21 June 2000 letter to Colonel (Retd.) Yahya Jammeh, ARTICLE 19 expressed concern about reports that more than twenty members of the United Democratic Party (UDP), including its leader Ousainou Darboe, have been detained since their arrest on Sunday 18 June and have now been charged with murder. These events […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The following is a 12 April 2000 CPJ press release: GAMBIA: RADIO JOURNALIST KILLED IN STUDENT DEMONSTRATION New York, April 12, 2000 — Popular Gambian journalist Omar Barrow, a news editor with the privately-owned Senegalese radio station SUD FM, which broadcasts in the Gambia, was shot dead on April 10 by a uniformed […]

In a 13 January 2000 letter to President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh, IPI expressed its deep concern over the charges of libel levelled against four journalists from “The Independent” newspaper. On 27 December 1999, editor-in-chief Baba Galleh Jallow, managing editor Alagi Yorro Jallow, and reporters N.B. Daffeh and Jalali Wally were charged with “libel against the […]

The following is a WPFC letter to President Jammeh urging him to immediately withdraw libel charges against journalists of “The Independent”: Fax Letter to: +220 227 034 H.E. Yahya A. Jemus Junkung Jammeh President Banjul, Gambia Dear Col. Jammeh, On behalf of the World Press Freedom Committee, which includes 44 journalistic organizations on six continents, […]

(ARTICLE 19/IFEX) – The Gambian government is using detention to stifle freedom of expression. This is at a time when the government is finalising a new information policy which, unless amended, will further threaten freedom of expression. The recent suspension of the newly-established “Independent” was the first overt sign that the government of The Gambia […]

(IPI/IFEX) – IPI is strongly condemning the arrest of three journalists in The Gambia. IPI is informed that Baba Galeh Jallow, editor-in-chief of the new bi-weekly newspaper, “The Independent”, and Yorro Jallow, the paper’s managing editor and vice president of the Gambia Press Union, were arrested by the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) on Sunday 1 […]

(CPJ/IFEX) – The three journalists of “The Independent” newspaper in Banul – Baba Galleh Jallow, Yorro Jallow and Lamin Daffeh – were released from detention at the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) headquarters on 2 August 1999 in the afternoon. They were told to report at NIA headquarters again on 3 August with all the necessary […]