Gambia
Intelligence agency arrests journalistPosted Jul 20 2007
AllAfrica.com reports that U.S.-based Gambian journalist Fatou Jaw Manneh was arrested by the National Intelligence Agency of Gambia on March 28 as she arrived at Banjul international airport in Gambia to visit her family. She was taken to NIA headquarters for questioning. She has not been charged and the reasons for her arrest are not known. Both Reporters Without Borders and the Committee to Protect Journalists have expressed concern over Manneh's safety. “No warrants or court appearances, a disregard for legality and a complete lack of transparency – these are the hallmarks of the NIA, the president's iron fist,” Reporters Without Borders said. “Opposition to President Yahya Jammeh or the expression of dissident views has become a high-risk undertaking that can catapult anyone, especially journalists, into the lawless world of Gambia's prisons.” Manneh, who has lived in the United States for the past 10 years, is a frequent political commentator with the U.S.-based All-Gambia.net and an outspoken critic of President Jammeh. She was formerly a reporter for the Daily Observer in Gambia. In 2003, she wrote an article for The Independent in Gambia called “Jammeh under the microscope,” which referred to Gambia's endemic poverty and corruption and said Jammeh had “failed us all.” According to Reporters Without Borders, the article led to the paper's editor, Abdoulie Sey, being illegally detained for three days. The government has since shut down The Independent.
For more on the situation in the Gambia, see globaljournist.org's article “The Gambia in the hands of Jammeh.”