Press statement;Gambia leader asks for forgiveness while journalists continue to be persecuted
Press statement;Gambia leader asks for forgiveness while journalists continue to be persecuted

On December 15, 2006, as he was being sworn in for a third five-year term in office, President Yahya Jammeh of the Gambia asked his people to forgive him for any crime he may have committed against them.

This is the first time in the 12-year rule of President Jammeh that he
has openly asked for forgiveness of Gambians since he seized power in
a military coup d'etat in 1994.

President Jammeh made this appeal in the presence of many
international dignitaries including four other African heads of state:
Nigeria's President Olusegun Obasanjo, Ethiopian President Girma
Wolde-Giorgis, Faure Gnassingbe of Togo, and Ely Ould Mohammed Vall of
Mauritania.

Jammeh's announcement came on the eve of the second anniversary of the
brutal murder of journalist Deyda Hydara, editor of The Point who
was gunned down as he drove home in his car on December 16, 2004.

Two years on, the editor's assailants are still at large. Jammeh's
government has refused to institute any serious investigation into the
heinous murder.

President Jammeh is asking for forgiveness at a time in a year when
Gambian journalists have received the worst form of persecution after
the murder of Hydara. At least ten journalists have been arrested,
detained, held incommunicado for weeks, and released without charge,
some having been badly tortured.

Chief Ebrima Manneh, a reporter of the pro-government Daily Observer
arrested months ago, is nowhere to be found, and the authorities
continue to deny holding him. Another journalist, Lamin Fatty, a
reporter of the banned The Independent, was illegally detained for
sixty-three days for allegedly publishing false information. He is
currently being tried under a law that provides long prison terms for
journalists. Scores of journalists have fled the country in fear of
their lives. Those within are practising self censorship.

Currently, two radio stations, Citizen FM, and Sud FM, and two
newspapers; The Independent and the New Citizen, have all been
arbitrarily shut down by the government.

The Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) requests the Gambian
leader to turn his words into action and unconditionally release Chief
Ebrima Manneh.

MFWA also urges President Jammeh's state prosecutor to discontinue the
trial of Lamin Fatty and reopen all media houses illegally closed down.

We also urge President Jammeh and his government to extend amnesty to
all journalists in exile.

Finally, the MFWA urges President Jammeh and his government to end the
harassment and persecution of journalists in the country.

Issued by the MFWA, Accra on December 19, 2006.

The MFWA is a regional independent, non-profit, non-governmental
organization based in Accra. It was founded in 1997 to defend and
promote the rights and freedom of the media and all forms of expression.

For further information: Please Contact:
MFWA
P.O. Box LG 730, Legon
Accra, Ghana
Tel 233-21 242470
Fax 233 -21 221084
Email: mfwa@africaonline.com.gh
Website: http://www.mfwaonline.org

Posted on Tuesday, December 19, 2006 (Archive on Saturday, December 30, 2006)
Posted by PNMBAI  Contributed by PNMBAI
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