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
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
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…)
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