>VIENNA, 12 February 2009 - The International Press

> Institute today urged Gambian authorities to dismiss charges

> against Pap Saine, editor and co-publisher of The Point.

> Saine faces charges of publishing false information, which

> carries a sentence of up to three years in prison.

> Saine was detained on 2 February, three days after his

> independent daily published a story about a diplomatic

> reshuffle at the Gambian Embassy in Washington. He was

> released from jail after posting bail of 50,000 dalasis

> (1500 euros), but is scheduled to appear before the Kanifing

> Magistrate Court again on 19 February.

>"No journalist should be jailed for reporting the

> facts no matter how embarrassing these facts may be to the

> Gambian government", IPI Director David Dadge said.

> "Moreover, rather than carrying out the

> government's bidding, judges in the Gambian legal system

> should be upholding the rights of journalists to report the

> facts."

> Saine was arrested along with senior reporter Modou

> Sanyang, who was questioned and then released. Saine, who

> was ill at the time, was held for eight hours in the serious

> crime unit at police headquarters in the capital Banjul.

>Police officers ordered Saine to reveal his sources for the

> story about the replacement of three top diplomats in

> Washington, according to the Media Foundation for West

> Africa. When he refused, Saine was charged with

> "publishing and broadcasting false information."

>Saine was not immediately available for comment on his

> arrest and the charges against him.

> But the exiled editor of The Independent, Alagi Yorro

> Jallow

> , said in an e-mail to IPI that police are pressuring staff

> members at The Point. "Everyone is afraid," the

> US-based journalist said.                                  

>

>

>

> A few days after his release, Saine was again called by

> police for questioning, this time regarding his citizenship.

> According to reports, he was forced to produce his national

> identity card, birth certificate, voter card and passport,

> as well as documentation proving his father's ownership

> of a home in Banjul. This is the second time that Saine has

> been questioned over his citizenship; the first incident was

> in 1995.

> The Point is no stranger to trouble. In December 2004,

> Deyda Hydara, Saine's long-time friend and co-founder of

> The Point, was shot dead just days after he denounced two

> new media laws. As highlighted in IPI's Justice Denied

> Campaign ,

> the government has shown little interest in thoroughly

> investigating and prosecuting that crime.

> IPI's General Assembly, meeting in Nairobi in 2005,

> passed a resolution condemning Hydara's killing

>

>  and calling on the government to conduct a thorough

> investigation. Charges against one suspect were eventually

> dropped.

>

>

>

> # # #

>

>

>

> For more information, contact:

>

>

>

> Timothy Spence

>

> Press and Communications Manager

>

> Tel: +43 1 512 90 11

>

> E-mail: tspence(at)freemedia.at

>

> http://www.freemedia.at

>

>

>

> - Read the 2008 Africa Press Freedom Overview

>

>