THE GAMBIA: Journalist assaulted
Earlier this month, Gambian police assaulted Buya Jammeh, a reporter for the English-language biweekly The Independent, near the newspaper's offices in the capital, Banjul. According to sources familiar with the incident, on August 9, two police officers stationed a short distance from the newspaper stopped Jammeh on his way to a radio station where he works part-time.
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PRESS RELEASE/ALERT - THE GAMBIA
22 August 2003
Journalist assaulted
SOURCE: Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), New York
(CPJ/IFEX) - The following is a CPJ press release:
THE GAMBIA: Journalist assaulted
New York, August 22, 2003-Earlier this month, Gambian police assaulted Buya
Jammeh, a reporter for the English-language biweekly The Independent, near
the newspaper's offices in the capital, Banjul.
According to sources familiar with the incident, on August 9, two police
officers stationed a short distance from the newspaper stopped Jammeh on his
way to a radio station where he works part-time as a deejay. Alhaji Yorro
Jallow, The Independent's managing editor, told CPJ that the officers
regularly see staff members from The Independent, and could identify Jammeh
by sight as a reporter at the newspaper.
The officers asked to search Jammeh's bag, but refused to give a reason for
the search. After Jammeh resisted the officers' request, they overpowered
him, confiscating the journalist's notebook and several music CDs and
cassettes. The officers then beat Jammeh until his face was swollen,
according to the journalist's colleagues, who saw him after the attack.
While the policemen gave no indication of the reasons behind their actions,
local journalists told CPJ that Jammeh may have been singled out because of
his association with The Independent, which has recently run a series of
articles and editorials criticizing the government.
Jallow thinks it is also possible that Jammeh was targeted because of a
story he wrote about a government official who was convicted of theft in
June. While Jammeh was working on the story, soldiers entered the
newspaper's offices and warned the staff not to report on the conviction,
said Jallow. The editor refused, and Jammeh's story appeared, with his
byline, on August 1.
CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information about press
conditions in The Gambia, visit www.cpj.org.
For further information, contact Alexis Arieff (ext. 117) at CPJ, 330
Seventh Ave., New York, NY 10001, U.S.A., tel: +1 212 465 1004, fax: +1 212
465 9568, e-mail: [email protected], [email protected], Internet:
http://www.cpj.org/
The information contained in this press release/alert is the sole
responsibility of CPJ. In citing this material for broadcast or publication,
please credit CPJ.
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