Gambian security forces seal off leading newspaper, arrest staff
New York, March 28, 2006—Plainclothes Gambian security agents today sealed the offices of the twice-weekly newspaper The Independent and arrested staffers found on the premises, local journalists told the Committee to Protect Journalists. Most of the staff members were released after brief questioning, but Editor Musa Saidykhan and General Manager Madi Ceesay remained in custody…
Attacks on the Press 2005: The Gambia
THE GAMBIA The tightening of repressive media laws and the failure to solve the December 2004 murder of veteran journalist Deyda Hydara added to the climate of violence and intimidation faced by private media in 2005. President Yahya Jammeh said that the Gambia allowed “too much freedom of expression,” and local journalists feared that government…
Police bar journalists from site of editor’s murder on 1st anniversary
Statement prepared by the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York on December 15, 2005, to be read by Tidiane Sy on behalf of CPJ Executive Director Ann Cooper, Africa Program Coordinator Julia Crawford, and the CPJ board of directors.
One year later, murderers of leading editor still free
New York, December 15, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the murderers of leading Gambian editor and press freedom activist Deyda Hydara have not been brought to justice a year after his death. As local and international press freedom groups mark the anniversary on Friday, CPJ renews its call to the Gambian…
Murder story may have sparked interrogation
New York, October 27, 2005—The editor of The Independent newspaper was detained today and interrogated for several hours by Gambian state intelligence agents, who instructed him to return for more questioning on Friday. Local journalists said they believe Musa Saidykhan is being harassed in connection with a recent article on the unsolved December 2004 murder…
CPJ outraged by conduct of probe into editor’s murder
Your Excellency: The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that six months after the assassination of veteran journalist Deyda Hydara, official investigations into his murder have failed to make any significant progress in finding his killers. We are outraged at the recent National Intelligence Agency (NIA) investigation report, which bears more resemblance to a smear campaign against Hydara and his colleagues than an objective report by professionals.
In Dangerous Assignments, information war rages in Chechnya
New York, May 27, 2005—The Kremlin has waged a brutally effective information war in Chechnya using repressive policies, restrictive rules, subtle censorship, and outright attacks on journalists, Alex Lupis reports in the new edition of Dangerous Assignments. The spring/summer edition of the magazine is now available from the Committee to Protect Journalists. Also in the…
The Independent forced to stop publishing
New York, May 16, 2005—The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned that the biweekly newspaper The Independent, which lost its printing press in an unsolved arson in April 2004, has been forced to stopped publishing entirely after its printing arrangement with the private Daily Observer was abruptly terminated. The Independent has not published since…