The Gambia
Effects of draconian Gambian media law noted

afrol News, 8 August - After the adoption of a draconian media bill by the Gambian legislature on 25 July, the first negative effects on press freedom in the country are noted. The Gambian secret service have arrested - and later released - three journalists after the approval of the bill. 

Journalist Pa Ousman Darboe, who was held incommunicado between 2 and 5 August in connection with an article in the Banjul biweekly 'The Independent' reporting that the Vice-President Njie Saidy had remarried to a retired school teacher, Alpha Khan, and mentioning her late husband's legal problems. Also the editor of 'The Independent', Alhaji Yoro Jallow was detained on 3 August but was released the same day. 

Persons close to Khan told French news agency AFP that no marriage had taken place. At the same time, the Vice-President apparently did not appreciate the fact that the article recalled that, before his death, her late husband was ordered by a government commission of enquiry to reimburse about one million francs CFA (euros 1,525) in travel expenses.

Journalist Darboe was arrested on 2 August by officials of the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) - Gambia's secret service - an arrest made possible by the new media law. Editor Jarrow was also arrested by the NIA. Earlier, Guy-Patrick Massaloko, a Congolese journalist with the African news agency PANA, had been held incommunicado from 19 July to 1 August at the headquarters of the NIA. 

International human rights groups are expressing concern about the deteriorating press situation in The Gambia. The international media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF) protested the arrest of Darboe. RSF Secretary-General Robert Ménard in a letter to Gambian President Yaya Jammeh had demanded Darboe's immediate release. 

- These new arrests, coming soon after the promulgation of a law creating a National Media Commission, are worrying for press freedom in Gambia, Ménard said in the letter. "If the facts reported by the journalist were erroneous, the Vice-President had every right to demand a retraction from the newspaper, but nothing justifies the journalist's prolonged detention."

Also the human rights watchdog Amnesty International yesterday expressed its concern at "increasing attacks on freedom of expression" in The Gambia. Darboe and Jallow had been arrested "solely on the grounds of their legitimate professional activities", Amnesty said in a statement. 

The group urged the Gambian authorities to uphold high standards to guarantee the right to freedom of expression as protected by the international treaties to which The Gambia was a party. Amnesty added that the new media law contained several provisions incompatible with The Gambia's international obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. 

The statement expressed particular concern at the considerable powers devolved to the Media Commission, which could undermine and restrict freedom of expression. "These restrictions are without justification. They constitute an affront to the right to freedom of expression and may muzzle and undermine the independence of the Gambian media," the group said. "We are calling on President Jammeh to guarantee freedom of expression in The Gambia by withholding his consent to the Bill adopted by Parliament."

Also the global Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has appealed to President Jammeh to reject the media bill. The bill would "impose unacceptable restrictions on the press's ability to cover the news in The Gambia," CPJ said. "We believe that this legislation violates journalists' right to press freedom as guaranteed under the Gambian constitution and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," said Ann Cooper of CPJ.

On 25 July, the Gambian legislature approved a bill creating a national media commission, despite the objections of the country's journalists. RSF earlier said the bill "seriously threatens press freedom" in The Gambia. RSF also holds that the law "violates the Gambian constitution, which guarantees" the freedom of the press. 

Sources: Based on RSF, Amnesty, CPJ and afrol archives

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