Gambia: Fatou Jaw Manneh's missing case file found

The Kanifing Magistrates Court will on April 16, 2008, hear the case of Fatou Jaw Manneh, a US-based Gambian journalist on trial for an alleged sedition.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) sources reported that this followed the retrieval of Manneh’s file, which was reported missing at the last hearing on March 17, 2008.

The file was found at the Banjul Magistrates Court, one of the many places where the case had formerly been tried.

Manneh, a former journalist with the then independent Daily Observer newspaper, has been charged with three counts of sedition, following a series of articles she wrote criticising the regime of President Yahya Jammeh.

The journalist was released on bail a week after her arrest but is forced to remain in The Gambia, unable to return to her base in the US.

Since the trial started more than a year ago, there has not been any significant progress. The case has been prolonged on numerous occasions and the authorities seem to lack interest in finishing the case.

Prof. Kwame Karikari
Executive Director
MFWA
Tel: 233 21 242470
Fax: 233 21 221084
Email : [email][email protected]
Website : www.mediafound.org