Dakar — Unlawful arrests, detention, torture and unfair trials are increasing in the Gambia, repressing already restricted freedom of expression in the country, say journalists and human rights organizations.
Since 2004 the situation has been getting worse and worse," Amnesty International’s
"Gambian journalists are worse off today than they ever have been in the past," a Gambian reporter, who requested anonymity, told IRIN. Thirty journalists have fled the country since 2007, said Amnesty, many of them moving to neighbouring countries, others being granted asylum in the
Severe freedom of speech constraints affect all journalists in the country, including those working on government-endorsed newspapers, state-run television GRTS, and private radio stations, which only play music or cover sport, Ndey Tapha Sosseh, president of the Gambia Press Union (GPU), told IRIN.
Eight journalists were arrested on 12 June; seven of them on sedition charges, including members of the country’s two remaining independent papers Foroyaa and the Point, and GPU representatives.
The GPU had issued a 12 June statement criticizing President Yahya Jammeh for "inappropriate" comments about the 2004 murder of journalist Deyda Hydara; which Foroyaa and the Point published.
"Until the June 12 incident I thought it couldn’t get any worse, but I was wrong," Tom Rhodes,
Source: Attila Éliás