August 2, 1999
President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh
State House
Banjul
The Gambia
VIA FACSIMILE: (220) 226696
Your Excellency,
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a nonpartisan organization dedicated to the defense of press freedom worldwide, is writing to protest in the strongest terms against the recent arrest of three journalists from The Independent newspaper.
Officers of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) arrested Baba Galleh Jallow and Yorro Jallow, editor-in-chief and managing editor, respectively, of The Independent, on the evening of Sunday, August 1 at the newspaper’s offices in Banjul. The two journalists have not been charged with any crime, but are being held at NIA headquarters in Banjul.
A third staff member, reporter Lamin Daffeh, is still in detention after his arrest last Friday, July 30. NIA officers arrested Daffeh at the newspaper’s offices along with the entire support staff of The Independent, who were held for about 2 hours and then released with the warning that “if they did not want trouble,” they should not work for the newspaper.
CPJ is fully aware that Your Excellency’s government has recently been harassing The Independent, a private biweekly newspaper that started publication on July 5. Despite having given it the go-ahead to start publishing, on July 23 the Ministry of Justice ordered The Independent to cease publication on the spurious grounds that it had not registered as an incorporated company with the Commissioner of Income Tax. The paper intends to continue publishing if possible.
CPJ agrees with staff at The Independent that this harassment comes partly in response to an editorial in the July 14 edition of the newspaper that condemned alleged human rights abuses committed in The Gambia since the 1994 military coup.
Having attended the conference of the West African Journalist’s Association in Banjul in June 1999, and having met with numerous Gambian journalists, CPJ is convinced that the actions of Your Excellency’s government against The Independent are part of a pattern of systematic repression of the independent media in The Gambia. We agree with the words of a senior Gambian journalist, who told CPJ: “The press in The Gambia is wallowing in fear and self-cenorship.”
Once again, CPJ respectfully reminds Your Excellency that international law obliges you to respect the right to freedom of expression and opinion. We urge you to ensure that the three journalists of The Independent are released immediately, and that the newspaper is free to publish without further hindrance.
Sincerely,
Ann K. Cooper
Executive Director
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President Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh
State House
Banjul
The Gambia
VIA FACSIMILE: (220) 226696