Posts Tagged ‘Gambia’
June 9th, 2010
Editors of the US-based newspaper
Gambia Echo have seen access to their website from within Gambia
blocked by the country’s government. In a letter sent to the US State Department on June 4, the imprint’s editor-in-chief claims the move is part of a trend under President Yahya Jammeh towards restricting press freedom. Gambia Echo’s website, and that of Freedom Newspaper, another independent imprint, were previously blocked in 2008.
April 14th, 2010
A prominent member of Gambia’s main opposition party has been
sentenced to a year of hard labour on charges of “unlawful assembly”. The Media Foundation for West Africa suggested that the imprisonment of Femi Peters, campaign manager for the United Democratic Party, was an attempt by the government to weaken the opposition ahead of next year’s election. Peters vehemently denied the charges, which followed a meeting organised by the defendant without the approval of the country’s inspector general. Meanwhile, an exiled Gambian journalist claims he received death threats last week from the African country’s feared National Intelligence Agency. Yusupha Cham says he was
threatened by the presidential security agency after criticising President Yahya Jammeh in a series of articles on Gambian news websites.
March 30th, 2010
Two journalists have been arrested by military officials in The Gambia while on an editorial assignment at a tourist site. Media Foundation for West Africa revealed that Sanna Camara and Saikou Jammeh of the Banjul-based Daily News
were detained by the Tourism Security Unit last week. Authorities questioned them for two hours for taking photographs without authorisation. They were both later released after signing an agreement not to write any negative stories about their visit. Last year, Reporters Without Borders, said that
attacks on press freedoms in Gambia are the worst in West Africa.
August 19th, 2009
The six Gambian journalists whom were recently imprisoned will be launching an appeal against their two-year sentences and heavy fines, on the grounds that the convictions were unconstitutional. Hearing is most likely to begin in October as the judiciary is currently on legal vacation. Read more here
August 14th, 2009
Five of the six journalists sentenced to two years in prison for sedition and defamation against the government in Zambia have been moved to a northern prison. This included Pap Saine, the Reuters correspondent who is suffering from a heart condition but has not been allowed to go to Senegal for the pacemaker operation. The sixth journalist Sarata Jabba-Dibba has not been moved to the northern prison, but has had her seven month old baby, which she is still breastfeeding taken away from her. Read more here
August 7th, 2009
News that six Gambian journalists have been jailed for two years for “ridiculing the head of state” signals that the country has become one of Africa’s worst abusers of press freedom says AllAfrica.com’s Brian Kennedy. (more…)
August 7th, 2009
Six journalists in Gambia have been jailed for two years each after being found guilty of criticising the country’s president. The journalists from the newspaper Foroyaa and weekly publication The Point were convicted of sedition and defamation for comments critical of President Yahya Jammeh. Read more
here
July 21st, 2009
AllAfrica.com’s Brian Kennedy examines the Gambian president’s ongoing assault on press freedom after the recent arrest of eight opposition journalists
(more…)
