A magistrate in the Gambian capital, Banjul, charged on Thursday seven journalists with sedition for criticizing President Yahya Jammeh’s televised comments about the unsolved 2004 murder of editor Deyda Hydara, their defence lawyer said. Gambian security forces arrested an eighth journalist on Thursday morning, although no charges were immediately brought, according to the Gambian Press Union President Ndey Tapha Sosseh.

Jammeh, appearing on June 8 on state-run Gambia Radio and Television Service, said the government investigation into Hydara’s slaying had stalled, according to media reports. Jammeh noted that a news web site carried a headline saying, “Who Killed Deyda Hydara?” and then retorted: “Let them go and ask Deyda Hydara who killed him.”

The Gambian Press Union issued a statement criticizing Jammeh for being insensitive and calling for a renewed investigation into the unsolved killing. Four of those arrested are press union leaders. All eight work for either The Point or Foroyaa newspapers, which carried the press union statement. Hydara was the editor of The Point.

All eight journalists are being held at Mile Two Prison, according to their defense lawyer Lamin Camara. The only one who was granted bail is  journalist Sarata Jabbi-Dibba, mother of a six-month-old. A bail of 200,000 dalasi (US$7,547) was granted to her but there was insufficient time for colleagues and family members to raise that amount, the press union reported.

“We’re deeply anguished by the arrests of these journalists, several of whom I met in my visit to the Gambia,” said Joel Simon, Executive Director of the New York-based organisation Committee to Protect Journalists. “President Jammeh is acting in a petty and vindictive manner and should be held personally accountable for his egregious abuse of power.”

The National Intelligence Agency has denied the journalists access to their lawyer, family members, and colleagues, Camara told CPJ. They are due in court again on Monday, when the lawyer said a bail application would be filed.

Hydara, one of the nation’s leading editors, was killed by unidentified gunmen in his car on the outskirts of Banjul in December 2004. In the June 8 state television interview, Jammeh denied government involvement in Hydara’s roadside slaying.

Gambia has become one of the worst nations in the region on press freedom issues. “Chief” Ebrima Manneh, a journalist for the newspaper The Observer, was arrested by security forces in July 2006 and has virtually disappeared in state custody. Despite witness statements, the government has denied knowledge of Manneh’s whereabouts.

 
Source : Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York–based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information, visit www.cpj.org.