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THE GAMBIA PRESS UNION / UNITED KINGDOM BRANCH
PRESS RELEASE

IN COMMEMORATION OF THE ASSASINATION OF DEYDA HYDARA

It is two years since veteran journalist Deyda Hydara was brutally murdered by unknown cowardly assailant/s. Despite the continued condemnations and calls for justice both nationally and internationally, the authorities in The Gambia are yet to ensure that those responsible for this most ghastly crime are apprehended and brought to justice.
Mr Hydara who was co-proprietor and Managing Editor of The Point newspaper was also Reporters Without Borders’ Banjul correspondent. He was gunned down, on December 16, 2004, whilst he was driving his Mercedes Benz from work going home. Two of his colleagues, who were with him in the car, Ms Nyansarang Jobe and Mrs Ida Jagne-Joof both sustained various degrees of injuries as a direct consequence of the bullets that were sprayed at the moving vehicle. The incident happened on the day the paper celebrated the 13th anniversary of its inception.
The initial reaction of the authorities in The Gambia was to pretend that the murder of Mr Hydara was nothing more than a routine criminal activity. It was only after protests and continuous condemnations, especially from national and international press bodies, became deafening that the Gambian authorities took seriously the calls for an immediate investigation.
The case was initially assigned to The Gambia Police Force who, after a couple of months of so-called investigations, failed to shed the faintest light on even the circumstances surrounding Mr Hydara’s death – This despite the fact that Hydara was murdered yards from a police barracks.
The case was transferred to the National Intelligence Agency ( NIA ) who were themselves suspect in the whole affair as we learnt that on the day of the incident they (NIA) had Mr Hydara under surveillance. There were many theories surrounding Mr Hydara’s assassination, and one such theory was that he got killed for his critical stance against draconian media laws enacted or about to be enacted by the authorities in The Gambia.
This proposition was lent credibility by the contents of a “Confidential Report” released by the NIA barely eight weeks from being assigned the investigations. On April 29, 2005, the NIA released the supposedly “Confidential Report” which purports “to acquaint the Government of The Gambia and other interested parties with outcome of the investigation so far.” The report, full of aporia and replete with conspiratorial insinuations suggested several motives as to why some body or organisation would want Mr Hydara death. One such motive highlighted by the report was that Mr Hydara was in the habit of “recklessly” provoking the government of The Gambia and its leader.
The NIA report instructed us that: a) “since the advent of the Media Commission Bill, he [ Mr Hydara ] had relentlessly and persistently criticised the government and also attempted to challenge the Bill in court though to no avail;” and b) “in his Bite (sic), he hauled unpleasant remarks on the government of The Gambia for the institution of laws and other steps taken by government to control the press from abuse of its freedom of expression, which he described as draconian measures put in place to muzzle free press.”
However, despite expending a lot of energy on potential suspects in its so-called “Confidential Report” (which despite being labelled ‘Confidential’ was made widely available to the press) failed to come up with any solution to the crime. By attempting to apportion blame on the victim, they thought the matter would be laid to rest. They became jumpy about any further mention of Mr Hydara’s name in relation to the crime. They stooped so low by denying visa (entry clearance) to Hydara’s colleague from Reporters San Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders) to attend the first anniversary of Hydara’s murder. On that occasion they sent armed officers to prevent journalists from laying a wreath at the scene of the crime. They even had to mercilessly beat a female journalist whose only crime was trying to take a photo of the scene. Musa Saidykhan, a Gambian journalist who raised the issue of Deyda’s assassination at an international conference in South Africa was detained and mal-handled by the NIA upon his return to The Gambia from the conference.
On this auspicious occasion of the second anniversary of the assassination of Deyda Hydara, we the members of the United Kingdom branch of The Gambia Press Union join our colleagues at home and abroad to reiterate the call on the authorities in The Gambia to invite disinterested outside expertise who have the technical sophistication and resources of the type to help unmask the perpetrators of this ghastly crime.
Our security services should remember that they are charged with the responsibility of protecting every Gambian against acts of banditry – be they journalist or ordinary citizen. Those who know something but choose to stay quiet should remember that silence under such circumstances amounts to conspiring to murder, and Deyda’s case shall continue to reverberate in their ears until the coward/s responsible for his death is/are brought to justice.
We would like to take the opportunity to salute the bravery of our colleagues in The Gambia who are working day-in day-out to inform Gambians under such a hostile atmosphere. Our thoughts are with Deyda’s brave family, particularly his wife whose birthday falls on this fateful day. We also salute veteran journalist Pap Saine, and former GPU president Demba Ali Jawo for ensuring that Deyda’s legacy lives on. We would also like to complement the selfless efforts of our parent body, The Gambia Press Union, Reporters Without Borders, Committee to Protect Journalists, our colleagues in Washington (GPU/USA) and all those who in one way or another are doing their best in ensuring that Deyda’s killers and or their sponsors are brought to justice.

Signed Alieu Badara Sowe, Secretary General.

Posted on Monday, December 18, 2006 (Archive on Saturday, December 30, 2006)
Posted by PNMBAI Contributed by PNMBAI

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