Gambia

Counsel for seven journalists including Gambian Press Union (GPU) executives, accused of defaming President Yahya Jammeh on July 8, 2009 asked the Banjul High court hearing the case to free their clients because the charges preferred against them were “invalid” and “defective”.

Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) is once again calling on President John Atta Mills and other African leaders currently meeting in Sirte in Libya to condemn the systematic campaign being waged by President Yahya Jammeh’s administration to undermine media freedom and freedom of expression i

The trial of seven Gambian journalists accused of publishing with “seditious intention” will now continue at a High Court in Banjul instead of the Kanifing court where the trial began.

The ECOWAS Community Court hearing the case of torture brought by Musa Saidykhan, a Gambian journalist against the operatives of the Gambia’s notorious National Intelligence Agency (NIA), on June 30, 2009 dismissed the preliminary objections raised by the Gambian government, the defendant in the

Augustine Kanja, a reporter of privately-owned Banjul-based The Point newspaper, was on June 24, 2009 released on police enquiry bail in the sum of 50,000 Dalasis (approx. 1700 US$).

Four newspaper journalists and three executives of the Gambian Press Union (GPU) charged with three counts of publishing with “seditious intention” were on June 22, 2009 granted bail by the Kanifing Court in the sum of 200,000 Dalasis (about US$7, 000) and two sureties each.