Dear friend,
Thanks to you and a lot of others out there.
President Yayah Jammeh has 'pardoned' and ordered the release of the jailed six journalists!
Great news!!
Struggle continues!!
Victory is Certain!
Yemi A.J
http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/jammeh-pardons-jailed-gambian-journalists
http://www.freedomnewspaper.com/Homepage/tabid/36/mid/367/newsid367/4496/UDP--Welcomes-The--Release-Of-Six-Jailed-Gambian-Journalists/Default.aspx
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Friday, August 14, 2009
And they are Jailed!!
International press freedom groups are condemning the conviction of six Gambian journalists on charges of sedition and defamation for criticizing the government.
The six journalists were convicted Thursday on six counts of sedition and defamation. Each was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence and heavy fines. The Gambian Press Union said failure to pay the fine could lead to an additional two years in jail.
The journalists were arrested on June 15 after reprinting a press release from the Gambian Press Union that denounced comments made on national television by President Yahya Jammeh about the unsolved murder of veteran Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara.
Hydara, co-founder of the independent newspaper, The Point, was gunned down in 2004. In a televised interview on June 8, Mr. Jammeh denied involvement in Hydara's death, and hinted that the journalist had a complicated love life that might have resulted in his murder. The Gambian Press Union reacted with a press release that called his comments insensitive and demanded a renewed investigation into Hydara's murder.
Gambian journalist Amie Joof is the executive director for the Inter-Africa Network for Women, Media, Gender and Development in Dakar. She says politics and issues that question government policies are already off-limits for independent reporters, and this conviction shows just how difficult working conditions have become.
"It is very, very difficult for them to practice their profession and be independent. I think the only people who can do their work now in The Gambia are those who are working for the state media, because they have to comply with the rules and regulations of the state media," Joof said.
"But as far as independent journalists are concerned, it's hell on earth. Six of them were convicted yesterday, which just shows you the state of affairs in the country."
The convicted journalists include three executive members of the Gambian Press Union, the editor of Forayaa newspaper, and the publisher and the editor of The Point newspaper, which Joof says are the country's only two independent newspapers.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that in arresting some of the last remaining independent journalists in the country, "President Jammeh has managed to nail the coffin shut for press freedom in The Gambia." The International Federation of Journalists called the verdict "one of the darkest days in the history of African journalism" and denounced the Gambian justice system as "spineless and a faithful servant to President Jammeh."
Joof says this is a problem for all Gambians, not just journahttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5768237258325388066lists.
"Nobody can write or say anything that does not favor Yahya Jammeh and his government. The few people who do it have been sentenced to jail or have been arrested or have been harassed, some of whom are not even journalists. Even thought it's the six journalists who have been sentenced to jail, it's the whole issue of expression that is now dead, so to speak. That is now in a very serious situation," Joof said. "People cannot express themselves. If those whose profession it is to write, to speak, to broadcast are now in this kind of situation, what do you expect the other members of society to do?"Joof says, although the future looks bleak, she and her colleagues will continue to fight for freedom of expression, the immediate release of their colleagues, and investigations into the 2004 murder of Deyda Hydara
and the 2006 disappearance of journalist Ebrima Manneh .
source:voa
The six journalists were convicted Thursday on six counts of sedition and defamation. Each was sentenced to a two-year prison sentence and heavy fines. The Gambian Press Union said failure to pay the fine could lead to an additional two years in jail.
The journalists were arrested on June 15 after reprinting a press release from the Gambian Press Union that denounced comments made on national television by President Yahya Jammeh about the unsolved murder of veteran Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara.
Hydara, co-founder of the independent newspaper, The Point, was gunned down in 2004. In a televised interview on June 8, Mr. Jammeh denied involvement in Hydara's death, and hinted that the journalist had a complicated love life that might have resulted in his murder. The Gambian Press Union reacted with a press release that called his comments insensitive and demanded a renewed investigation into Hydara's murder.
Gambian journalist Amie Joof is the executive director for the Inter-Africa Network for Women, Media, Gender and Development in Dakar. She says politics and issues that question government policies are already off-limits for independent reporters, and this conviction shows just how difficult working conditions have become.
"It is very, very difficult for them to practice their profession and be independent. I think the only people who can do their work now in The Gambia are those who are working for the state media, because they have to comply with the rules and regulations of the state media," Joof said.
"But as far as independent journalists are concerned, it's hell on earth. Six of them were convicted yesterday, which just shows you the state of affairs in the country."
The convicted journalists include three executive members of the Gambian Press Union, the editor of Forayaa newspaper, and the publisher and the editor of The Point newspaper, which Joof says are the country's only two independent newspapers.
The Committee to Protect Journalists said that in arresting some of the last remaining independent journalists in the country, "President Jammeh has managed to nail the coffin shut for press freedom in The Gambia." The International Federation of Journalists called the verdict "one of the darkest days in the history of African journalism" and denounced the Gambian justice system as "spineless and a faithful servant to President Jammeh."
Joof says this is a problem for all Gambians, not just journahttp://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=5768237258325388066lists.
"Nobody can write or say anything that does not favor Yahya Jammeh and his government. The few people who do it have been sentenced to jail or have been arrested or have been harassed, some of whom are not even journalists. Even thought it's the six journalists who have been sentenced to jail, it's the whole issue of expression that is now dead, so to speak. That is now in a very serious situation," Joof said. "People cannot express themselves. If those whose profession it is to write, to speak, to broadcast are now in this kind of situation, what do you expect the other members of society to do?"Joof says, although the future looks bleak, she and her colleagues will continue to fight for freedom of expression, the immediate release of their colleagues, and investigations into the 2004 murder of Deyda Hydara
and the 2006 disappearance of journalist Ebrima Manneh .
source:voa
Monday, July 27, 2009
Yahya Jammeh Televised Media Threat, A 'Fatwa' on Free Speech!
Gambian President Yahya Jammeh on Wednesday 22 July warned journalists against tarnishing Gambia’s image, in a statement to state-owned GRTS television.
"Any journalist who thinks that he or she can write whatever he or she wants, and go free, is making a big mistake", Jammeh declared. "If anybody is caught, he will be severely dealt with."
IPI believes that President Jammeh’s recent threatening public statement to journalists is just another sign of the climate of fear in which journalists must work in Gambia.
“President Jammeh’s comments would be unacceptable in any country, but they are made worse because they come from a President who is deeply prejudiced against an independent media,” said IPI Director David Dadge. “The Gambian authorities must immediately drop all charges against the seven journalists, and implement all previous rulings of the ECOWAS community court.
“Further, we call on the international community to roundly condemn Gambia’s treatment of the media, bearing in mind that when a government fails to protect the rights of a free press, it is signalling that other fundamental human rights are also in grave danger.”
Meanwhile, the trial continues for seven prominent Gambian journalists accused on six counts of charges including conspiracy to seditious publication, seditious publication, conspiracy to commit criminal defamation and criminal defamation.
The International Press Institute (IPI) recently called on Gambia to drop the charges.
The seven journalists, Emil Touray, Sarata Jabbi-Dibba and Pa Modou Fall of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), Pap Saine and Ebrima Sawaneh of The Point, and Sam Sarr and Abubakar Saidykhan of the newspaper Forayaa, were arrested following the publication of a GPU statement criticising President Jammeh over comments he made about another Gambian journalist, Deyda Hydara, who was co-founder and editor of The Point and was murdered in 2004. As highlighted by IPI’s Justice Denied campaign, no one was ever brought to justice for his death, and investigations have stalled. Widespread suspicion persists that he was killed by members of the “Green Boys,” an officially disbanded group linked to the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction's (APRC).
Hydara was an outspoken advocate of press freedom. Two days before his murder, he announced his intention to challenge two controversial laws introduced in The Gambia on 14 December 2004: the Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill 2004, which imposes prison sentences for press offences such as defamation and sedition; and the Newspaper (Amendment) Bill 2004, which requires expensive operating licenses and obligates newspaper owners to register their homes as security for the payment of any fines.
An anonymous letter sent to the Gambia Press Union (GPU) shortly before Hydara’s murder threatened to "teach a very good lesson" to one of the GPU’s journalists for “always going hard” on President Jammeh.
In a further manifestation of its contempt for the media, President Jammeh’s government has ignored a 2008 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court decision ordering it to release and compensate, to the amount of $100,000, missing journalist Ebrima Manneh.
IPI has called on the Gambian government to respect the decision.
In a televised statement on Sunday, President Jammeh denied allegations that he had Ebrima Manneh killed.
The ECOWAS Community Court is currently hearing a torture case filed by the Media Foundation for West Africa. Musa Saidykhan, who is the editor-in-chief of the banned newspaper The Independent, was detained by NIA forces and the police in March 2006 and held incommunicado for 22 days, during which time he allegedly faced continual torture that has left his body permanently scarred.
On 30 June the court threw out the Gambian government’s claim that the court lacked jurisdiction to rule on the case.
30 journalists have reportedly fled Gambia since 2007.
culled from: http://www.freemedia.at/index.php?id=288&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4476&cHash=8281ee04d2
"Any journalist who thinks that he or she can write whatever he or she wants, and go free, is making a big mistake", Jammeh declared. "If anybody is caught, he will be severely dealt with."
IPI believes that President Jammeh’s recent threatening public statement to journalists is just another sign of the climate of fear in which journalists must work in Gambia.
“President Jammeh’s comments would be unacceptable in any country, but they are made worse because they come from a President who is deeply prejudiced against an independent media,” said IPI Director David Dadge. “The Gambian authorities must immediately drop all charges against the seven journalists, and implement all previous rulings of the ECOWAS community court.
“Further, we call on the international community to roundly condemn Gambia’s treatment of the media, bearing in mind that when a government fails to protect the rights of a free press, it is signalling that other fundamental human rights are also in grave danger.”
Meanwhile, the trial continues for seven prominent Gambian journalists accused on six counts of charges including conspiracy to seditious publication, seditious publication, conspiracy to commit criminal defamation and criminal defamation.
The International Press Institute (IPI) recently called on Gambia to drop the charges.
The seven journalists, Emil Touray, Sarata Jabbi-Dibba and Pa Modou Fall of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), Pap Saine and Ebrima Sawaneh of The Point, and Sam Sarr and Abubakar Saidykhan of the newspaper Forayaa, were arrested following the publication of a GPU statement criticising President Jammeh over comments he made about another Gambian journalist, Deyda Hydara, who was co-founder and editor of The Point and was murdered in 2004. As highlighted by IPI’s Justice Denied campaign, no one was ever brought to justice for his death, and investigations have stalled. Widespread suspicion persists that he was killed by members of the “Green Boys,” an officially disbanded group linked to the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction's (APRC).
Hydara was an outspoken advocate of press freedom. Two days before his murder, he announced his intention to challenge two controversial laws introduced in The Gambia on 14 December 2004: the Criminal Code (Amendment) Bill 2004, which imposes prison sentences for press offences such as defamation and sedition; and the Newspaper (Amendment) Bill 2004, which requires expensive operating licenses and obligates newspaper owners to register their homes as security for the payment of any fines.
An anonymous letter sent to the Gambia Press Union (GPU) shortly before Hydara’s murder threatened to "teach a very good lesson" to one of the GPU’s journalists for “always going hard” on President Jammeh.
In a further manifestation of its contempt for the media, President Jammeh’s government has ignored a 2008 Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) court decision ordering it to release and compensate, to the amount of $100,000, missing journalist Ebrima Manneh.
IPI has called on the Gambian government to respect the decision.
In a televised statement on Sunday, President Jammeh denied allegations that he had Ebrima Manneh killed.
The ECOWAS Community Court is currently hearing a torture case filed by the Media Foundation for West Africa. Musa Saidykhan, who is the editor-in-chief of the banned newspaper The Independent, was detained by NIA forces and the police in March 2006 and held incommunicado for 22 days, during which time he allegedly faced continual torture that has left his body permanently scarred.
On 30 June the court threw out the Gambian government’s claim that the court lacked jurisdiction to rule on the case.
30 journalists have reportedly fled Gambia since 2007.
culled from: http://www.freemedia.at/index.php?id=288&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=4476&cHash=8281ee04d2
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Tortured, brutalized yet Daring; that is the Unquenchable Zest for Freedom
and this:
Pictures don't tell lies. These are for real, pals!!!
The Washignton March for Press Freedom in The Gambia
Free Press is an essential ingredient of development. If Yayah Jammeh fails to act, the whole world will be MOBILIZED TO BOYCOTT Gambian TOURISM! Better watch it!!
How You and I Can Help?
You can help by sending appeal letters to any of the following officials:
President and Minister of Defence
Captain (retd.) Alhaji Yahya A. J. J. Jammeh
Office of the President
State House, Banjul
Republic of the Gambia
Fax: +220 4227 034
Salutation: Your Excellency
Attorney General and Secretary of State for Justice
Mrs Marie Saine Firdaus
Department of State for Justice
Marina Parade
Banjul
Republic of the Gambia
Fax: +220 4225 352
Salutation: Dear Secretary of State
Secretary of State for the Interior
Mr Ousman Sonko
Office of the President
State House
Banjul
Republic of the Gambia
Fax: +220 4223 718
Salutation: Dear Secretary of State
You can use the format of the International Federation of Journalists: http://www.gambiapressunion.org/fileadmin/templates/GPU/images/PDF/IFJ_Ecowas_Appeal_Letter.PDF
President and Minister of Defence
Captain (retd.) Alhaji Yahya A. J. J. Jammeh
Office of the President
State House, Banjul
Republic of the Gambia
Fax: +220 4227 034
Salutation: Your Excellency
Attorney General and Secretary of State for Justice
Mrs Marie Saine Firdaus
Department of State for Justice
Marina Parade
Banjul
Republic of the Gambia
Fax: +220 4225 352
Salutation: Dear Secretary of State
Secretary of State for the Interior
Mr Ousman Sonko
Office of the President
State House
Banjul
Republic of the Gambia
Fax: +220 4223 718
Salutation: Dear Secretary of State
You can use the format of the International Federation of Journalists: http://www.gambiapressunion.org/fileadmin/templates/GPU/images/PDF/IFJ_Ecowas_Appeal_Letter.PDF
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
