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Imprisoned
February 22
Boubacar Sankanu, Free-lancer, IMPRISONED, HARASSED
Sankanu, a free-lancer for the biweekly newspaper The Point, Voice of America (VOA), Radio Deutsche Welle, and the British Broadcasting Corp. (BBC), was detained incommunicado for one week and interrogated about his reports for VOA. He was released on bail, without charge, and directed to report daily to the police for one week. Sankanu was also "strongly encouraged" by state security agents to cease filing radio reports for broadcast on international networks.
May 6
Alieu Badara Sowe, The Point, IMPRISONED
Bruce Asemota, Daily Observer, IMPRISONED
Sowe, a reporter for the weekly newspaper The Point, and the Nigerian-born Asemota, a reporter for the independent Daily Observer, were arrested by plainclothes police officers from the criminal investigations unit and held incommunicado. The officers ordered the journalists to disclose their sources for articles they had written about the National Police, allegedly to determine if those sources were associated in any way with the police force. Both men refused to cooperate. In the April 29 issue of The Point, Sowe reported on the fraud division chief's involvement in the theft of recovered stolen money at the police station. In the May 6 issue of the Daily Observer, Asemota reported on the reshuffling of top officials in the National Police as a result of the theft involving the fraud division chief. He made reference to Sowe's article and quoted an anonymous source who revealed the names of the reassigned officials. On May 9, CPJ wrote a letter to the Gambian leader Capt. Yahya Jammeh and the inspector-general of police urging them to release Asemota and Sowe immediately. Sowe was released that same day after paying a fine of US$250. On May 22, Asemota was released on bail but was not charged with an offense. He has been prohibited by the police from working as a journalist under threat of expulsion from The Gambia. Sowe was forced to flee The Gambia on June 2 after receiving daily death threats and a beating on May 25. One of his attackers yelled, "As long as you don't stop your negative reports about security agents, we will continue to deal with you." He is now in hiding in a neighboring country.
For more information contact africaweb@cpj.org