Deyda Hydara -Campaigning Gambian journalist who defended freedom of speech. #Gambia

By Shola Adenekan 

The murder of the Gambian journalist Deyda Hydara, aged 58, as he was driving away from his newspaper, the Point, comes after prolonged tension between authorities and the Gambia's independent press. Just a couple of days before his death, lawmakers had approved a bill setting out jail terms for reporters found guilty of sedition or libel and stipulating that newspaper proprietors must sign a $16,600 (£8,648) bond, with their houses as guarantees, to be allowed to publish.

The government had also been trying to set up a media commission with the power to shut down newspapers and imprison reporters. After pressure from journalists, led by Hydara, the law was dropped on December 13.

President Yaya Jammeh has threatened to bury journalists "six-feet deep". Last year, when asked about journalists criticising his attempts to force them to register, he told the state radio that he believed in "giving each fool a long rope to hang themselves". Journalists, he went on should "either register or stop writing or go to hell".

In an open letter to the president, Hydara condemned his words as "totally repugnant and reprehensible".

Hydara first clashed with the authorities in 1994. Together with six other journalists he was summoned under an act not used since the days of British colonialism. Their crime had been to criticise the coup d'etat which ousted the elected president and installed the then army sergeant Jammeh, and to call for a return to civil rule. After 1994, Hydara campaigned for press freedom and democracy as Jammeh brought in draconian laws against political and media opposition.

In 1998 Hydara called for opposition parties to be given equal general election air time and newspaper space, which got him labelled as an opposition mouthpiece. Soon after, the British-based global campaign for free expression, Article 19, accused the Gambian government of harassing opposition activists and journalists.

Hydara received his elementary education in Banjul before his parents moved to Senegal. There he learned French and Spanish. After a journalism degree at the University of Dakar, he returned to the Gambia to take up his first journalism job with a Banjul-based radio station. While still with the station, Hydara set up the Senegalese government-funded SeneGambia Sun in 1983, which soon folded.

In 1988 he moved full-time into print journalism setting up the Point with two friends. It became one of the voices against the recklessness of the country's first president, Dauda Jawara.

In 2003, he was among the group of African journalists who met in Johannesburg to seek support for a continent-wide media charter. But the only significant backing from an African leader came from South African President Thabo Mbeki.

Back in the Gambia, Hydara and his colleagues continued to face intimid ation. The residence of the BBC correspondent, Ebrima Sillah and the premises of the Independent newspaper, for which Hydara was a columnist, was burnt down. The BBC was also warned of biased reports against the president.

Since 1974 Hydara had been the local correspondent for Agence France-Press (AFP) and was one of the longest-serving correspondents of the press freedom organisation, Reporters Without Borders.

He is survived by Maria, his wife of 33 years, and four children.

· Deyda Hydara, journalist and campaigner, born June 9 1946; died December 18 2004

First published by The Guardian January 2005

Gambia ALERT: Court detains newspaper journalist

Seikou Ceesay, a reporter of privately-owned the Daily News newspaper, is being held at the headquarters of The Gambian Police Force allegedly on the orders of the Banjul Magistrate Court for standing surety for Nanama Keita, who recently jumped bail and fled the country.

Ceesay, a co-opted member of the Gambian Press Union (GPU), on July 2011 stood surety for Keita, a former sports editor of pro-government the Daily Observer newspaper, detained at the time for giving “false information” to the office of President Yahya Jammeh. This was after Keita had petitioned President Jammeh over his alleged wrongful dismissal from the Daily Observer newspaper.

Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA) sources said earlier on October 19, 2011 Ceesay’s wife was also arrested and detained for about four hours after the court allegedly issued the warrant for his (Ceesay)’s arrest. At the time of her arrest, Ceesay was in his home village at the outskirts of Banjul.

As part of the condition for Keita’s bail, the sources said his passport was confiscated and he signed a bail bond of Hundred Thousand Dalasis (D100,000) about Three Thousand Five Hundred and Seventy One Dollars.(US$3571). The GPU also provided legal services for Keita.

In an e-mail to MFWA on September 16, Keita claimed that he had to flee the country after persistent threats on his life by unknown assailants believed to be government’s agents.

"September 7, 2011, was when I received a tip-off from a sympathizer within the security ranks that attempts are being made to have me arrested immediately on a reason the informant would not let me know… Upon getting this tip-off, on a rather pretty serious tone, I then decided to gather a few things before fleeing to neighbouring Dakar and finally, New York, to take refuge," said Keita.

For more information, Please contact :

Kwame Karikari (Prof), Executive Director, MFWA, Accra. Tel: 233-30-22 4 24 70, Fax: 233-302-22 10 84

Email:mfwa@africaonline.com.gh,alerts@mediafound.org

Website: www.mediafound.org

Gambia ALERT: Sports journalist in court for hosting aggrieved golf workers

MFWA-The Kanifing District Magistrate Court will on March 31, 2011 continue with the criminal trial of Bakary B. Baldeh, a sports producer and presenter of West Coast Radio, a privately-owned FM station, over a February 11 sports programme that the Gambian authorities claimed was criminal and meant to incite violence among Gambians.

This will the third time that Baldeh will appear before the court to answer charges of “conspiracy to commit felony”, and a “conspiracy” to incite violence. The charges stemmed from the presenter’s hosting of two aggrieved golf workers who had accused Ebrima Jawara, President of the Gambia Golfers Association and the son of former President Sir Dawda Kairaba Jawara, of unfair treatment during a recent national golf tournament in the country. The tournament was sponsored by PresidentYahya Jammeh. Baldeh has since pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
On its website on March 25, the pro-government Banjul-based The Daily Observer newspaper reported that Baldeh is being tried as a result of an alleged complaint filed by Ebrima Jawara. However, Media Foundation forWest Africa (MFWA) sources in the Gambia said that that was not the case and that Jawara has denied that he initiated the action.
Baldeh was arrested on March 23 after being invited to the Karaiba police station in the Kanifing Municipality in the northern part of Banjul together with the station’s proprietor, Peter Gomez. While Gomez was released after a brief interrogation, Baldeh was illegally detained for three days. He was released on March 25 after making his first appearance in court. 
Meanwhile, Baldeh has decided to temporary suspend his programme until his ordeal is over, according to the Daily Observer. 

Source:MFWA

Gambia News:Where is Youssef Ezzidine? No Answer Yet!

There is no answer yet to the whereabouts of Youssef Ezzidine, who was convicted of treason and sentenced to death together with seven others on 15 July, 2010. All eight of them appealed their conviction and sentence, but Ezzidine has failed to appear at the hearing of the appeal for the fifth consecutive time. 
During President Jammeh’s meeting with media heads on Wednesday 16 March 2011, he asserted that public servants are free to give information to satisfy the public interest. In the Editorial of Foroyaa 18-20 March 2011 it was indicated that the Managing Editor of Foroyaa will visit the Ministry of the Interior on Monday to find out why Youssef Ezzidine is not appearing in court like the others who are in the same appeal case.
The Managing Editor did visit the Ministry on Monday but was told upon enquiry at the reception that the permanent secretary had travelled. He then asked for the Minister of the Interior but he was told that he was at a workshop. Thereafter he asked for the Deputy Permanent Secretary but was told that the DPS was at a workshop. He wanted to leave a message with the secretary but was told by the lady at the reception that she too had gone to the workshop. Finally, he wanted to leave a message with the lady at the reception but she advised him to return on the following day.
On the following day, the Managing Editor called the Deputy Permanent Secretary and explained to her that he had been there the day before and since the Permanent Secretary had travelled he would like to find out from her about the non-appearance of Youssef Ezzidine in court. The DPS asked the Managing Editor to go over to the Ministry and when the Managing Editor asked when he can do the DPS told him he could come next Friday, when the Permanent Secretary would have returned.
This is how matters stand regarding the Ezzidine issue. We will keep our readers informed about developments. 


Source:foroyaa.gm

Gambia News: Jammeh to news media: I set limits on press freedom

By Mohamed Keita/CPJ Africa Advocacy Coordinator

Last week, Gambian President Yahya Jammeh participated in a rare meeting with select members of the West African nation's press corps. Jammeh spoke in favor of access to public information. He announced that he would allow The Standard newspaper to resume publication, five months after the National Intelligence Agency forced its editor, Sheriff Bojang, to halt production. But the president largely lashed out at the Gambian private press and critics of his repressive media policies in the meeting, a tense session that was broadcast on state television. Jammeh, a former army captain who seized power in a 1994 coup, spoke in a harsh and contemptuous tone as he addressed media owners invited to the State House in the capital, Banjul.

"If anybody thinks that this is a mere public relations stunt, you're mistaken," Jammeh told journalists and a few officials present. "What you perceive as a reality is not reality," he said, chastising journalists for portraying the image that "Yahya Jammeh is a monster, he's a dictator, he's a killer, that Gambia is not a place for journalists.'" He insisted that he was not hostile to the press. "You think I'm stupid? I don't like the press, I don't like the freedom of press and I allow newspapers? I want to tell you that we're not your enemies," he said. "You have to a positive role to play in national development, peace, and stability."

The president was quick to narrow the scope of press freedom. "If you're interested in development, you want peace and stability, then you don't have anything to fear from me." But press freedom has limits, Jammeh said, and it is he who sets those limits. "One freedom I will never give you is the freedom, the liberty to write whatever you want that you know is not true. There is press freedom, but there's no freedom to lie."  

He added: "If I have to close any newspaper because you have violated the laws, I will close it. ... I will not billahi wallahi, sacrifice the interests, the peace and stability and well-being of the Gambian people at the altar of freedom of expression, or freedom of press, or freedom of movement or freedom of whatever."

At times, Jammeh appeared to contradict himself. "Sensationalism in journalism will not be accepted. Tell me one country where there's no law on libel," he said before declaring, "There's no section that criminalizes speech. I don't know where you got that from but as far as I am concerned, there's no law that says that you can be taken to court and charged with a criminal offense for speech." At least two of the journalists present--Pap Seine and Sam Sarr--could attest to the presence and use of such laws: They were jailed on criminal sedition charges in connection with a 2009 press release critical of Jammeh's comments on the unsolved murder of editor Deyda Hydara.

Again last week, Jammeh disputed any government responsibility in the Hydara case, as well as in the case of Ebrima "Chief" Manneh, a reporter who disappeared after being arrested in 2007. "I will not kill anyone outside of the law," he said. "You see, if I have to cut the heads of 10,000 people to save 1 million, I will do so with happiness, but on the condition that they have been sentenced by a court of law." He went on to repeat: "We will not kill anyone clandestinely." 

Yet Jammeh referenced Manneh's case as a "death," and suggested the journalist might have disappeared after attempting to illegally migrate to Europe or America. The statement implied knowledge of Manneh's fate that has not been disclosed publicly and that runs contrary to his administration's repeated public statements. In a letter to Jammeh on Monday, CPJ called on the president to clarify his reference to Manneh's "death" and fully disclose the government's knowledge of the case.

"In all previous public comments, administration officials have consistently denied any knowledge of Manneh's detention, whereabouts, or legal status," CPJ's letter said. "Those comments were made despite sightings of Manneh in government custody after his 2007 arrest. Government denials were also issued in response to a June 2008 ruling by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States, which found sufficient evidence to conclude Gambian authorities had improperly detained Manneh."

Jammeh had some words of warning for the assembled journalists, accusing some of being "mouthpiece of opposition parties." His words apparently chilled initial press coverage of the meeting; all the leading newspapers omitted the president's comments on the Hydara and Manneh cases.

GAMBIA NEWS: PDOIS´ STATEMENT THE MEETING BETWEEN THE PRESS AND THE EXECUTIVE

Issued by Halifa Sallah
We have watched and listened very carefully to the statements made by heads of media houses in the Gambia and that delivered by President Jammeh. PDOIS deems it necessary to state our policy on the Media just to convince the Gambian people how a government that is genuinely committed to the protection to freedom of expression and freedom of the Media would have handled the first major encounter between the Gambian Media and the Executive.
We have reflected on every word uttered by heads of media houses and those uttered by the members of the executive. We have weighed their words against the scales of reason and decency. We want the Gambian people in particular and those who have heard the programme to reflect on the words of the two sides and judge for themselves which side has displayed greater maturity and decency.

We in PDOIS would like to affirm that contrary to what President Jammeh had said that it is not his aim to appease the media fraternity, democratic governance is inconceivable without appeasing the sovereign people.
The Constitution is very clear on this and we will never get tired of repeating its very words that “The Sovereignty of the Gambia resides in the people of the Gambia from whom all organs of Government derive their authority and in whose name and for whose welfare and prosperity the powers of government are to be exercised….”
Democracy is government by consent. Consent comes through appeasement. A government has a role to lead by consent or rule by coercion. There is no middle road. Those who lead by consent are called democrats and those who rule by coercion are called tyrants. Each government has to choose one system or the other.
PDOIS is committed to lead by consent. It is left to the APRC to decide how it intends to govern.
This is why we value the opinions expressed by heads of the Media houses. If we were in the shoes of the President we would have asked the Attorney General to take note when the heads spoke about the need to repeal unfriendly media laws and the recommendation to enact a Freedom of Information Act. We would have asked the Minister of Finance to take note of the complaints lodged against levies and taxes that make it difficult for the Media houses to operate. The Minister of information would have been asked to take note of the restrictions placed on the State media and Non Governmental Radio stations in broadcasting divergent views and dissenting opinions. The Minister of the Interior would have been asked to take note of the concerns raised regarding diligent investigation into the cases of Journalists like Deyda Hydara and Chief Manneh. The Head of the Civil Service would have been asked to take note of the concerns about access to information from public servants.
We would have raised the issue of a self regulatory mechanism to ensure that the media publishes or broadcasts the truth in good faith in the public interest, retract wrong reports and render apologies. We would have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Media operatives and consult them in the appointment of any Minister of Information.
Did the President and his Vice President and Ministers take this approach? The answer is in the negative.
They made allegations that journalists are untrained when most reporters have undergone and are undergoing training to develop their professionalism. They claim that journalists do not publish the good things the government does even though the pages of newspapers are filled with reports of workshops, seminars, projects launched or press releases issued by government institutions. They gave the impression that in the West one could only be a journalist if one has a diploma or degree in journalism when some renowned journalists and broadcasters had never been in the four cornered walls of a school of journalism and had developed their professionalism through apprenticeship. They gave the impression that in the West newspapers do not give support to political parties when one could even classify newspapers ideologically in those countries.
In our view, in any democratic society, there is the state media which is maintained by the tax payers and the non-state media which is maintained through its readers and clients for advertisement. In such a country a party must be divorced from the state and the state media must publish or broadcast divergent views and dissenting opinion.
It goes without saying that since the media is a mere instrument for the amplification of the voices of the people, one could have media belonging to religious, political, cultural and social groups.
What is very clear is that the non state Media establishments which operate commercially in democratic societies could be classified into three types. Some do give editorial leanings to conservative parties and others to progressive parties. Others take the middle road and take no sides. However, regardless of the leaning of a media establishment it is ethically bound to publish the truth in good faith in the public interest. Truth, Good faith and the Public interest constitute the motto of the free press in a democratic society.
The Media Commission Act which was repealed was the most draconian media legislation that could be conceived by the human mind. Let us just highlight one provision to help refresh the mind of the nation to the content which made the whole world to condemn it. Section 13 required media practitioners to register with the Commission but excluded media practitioners employed by the state. Paragraph (5) of this section states that “the commission shall issue a licence to a media practitioner or media organisation registered under this section.”
It added that “the registration of a media practitioner or media organisation shall be valid for one year and may be renewed from year to year.”
In short, all media houses and practitioners would have had to renew their licence to operate annually. One could understand why the Media commission was rejected by media houses because of its contravention of section 25 of the constitution which provides the right to freedom of expression and freedom of the Media.
PDOIS will encourage the Media practitioners to come up with a self regulatory body which would rely on persuasive influence and peer pressure to ensure adherence to the principle of publishing the truth in good faith in the public interest by all.
PDOIS understands the importance of freedom of expression and freedom of the media. Without freedom of expression there can be no information and without information there can be no knowledge and without knowledge there can be no awareness and without awareness human beings will grope in the dark from the cradle to the grave. Such human beings could never enjoy liberty, dignity or prosperity.
We hope the executive will understand why all just human beings have kept the memory of Deyda Hydara alive. This is the only way to deter others from committing such heinous crime. Look at Mexico today and reflect on what organised crime has given birth to. When Deyda was murdered and Ousman Sillah shot it became clear that Gambia was graduating from being a small society where people, irrespective of their differences attend each other’s ceremonies and put aside their antagonisms to express condolences during funerals, and was beginning to nurture people with hearts of stones who could hide in the dark to kill and maim their fellow citizens with impunity. It was necessary for the conscience of the nation to be awakened by keeping alive the question: Who Killed Deyda Hydara?
We in PDOIS called on the executive to understand the motive and keep alive the call to rid the country of organised crime so that all will live in unity, freedom and peace each day. What all just Gambians have called for is diligent investigation into the killing of Deyda and the disappearance of Chief Manneh. This is not too much to ask for. All have heeded the call of the executive for information. All should forward the information available to them.
This is the aspiration of PDOIS. This is what we promise to work for if we ever take over the helm or take part in a coalition government that aims to truly lead by consent, reason and justice instead of ruling by coercion and might.
Be ready to judge us by our words and actions and not by our intentions.

In Gambia, Jammeh asked to clarify Manneh's 'death'

After much denial about the whereabouts of Chief Ebrima Manneh, President Yahya Jammeh now says he is dead. The CPJ wrote to him to clarify.Below we produce the letter from the CPJ.

March 21, 2011

H.E. Yahya A.J.J. Jammeh
President of the Republic of The Gambia
State House
Banjul, The Gambia

Via facsimile +220 4227 034

Dear President Jammeh:

We request clarification of your March 16 comments suggesting "Chief" Ebrima Manneh, a reporter for the Daily Observer, may have died. Manneh disappeared after witnesses saw him being arrested by state security agents in the offices of the Daily Observer on July 7, 2007. The government has previously denied any knowledge of Manneh's fate.

"Let me make it very clear that the government has nothing to do with the death of Chief Manneh or Deyda Hydara or the disappearances of so many people," you said in a meeting with representatives of Gambian media that was broadcast on state television. You also suggested Manneh might have disappeared after attempting to illegally migrate to Europe or the United States.

Your statement implies knowledge of Manneh's fate that has not been conveyed to the journalist's family or disclosed publicly. In all previous public comments, administration officials have consistently denied any knowledge of Manneh's detention, whereabouts, or legal status. Those comments were made despite sightings of Manneh in government custody after his 2007 arrest. Government denials were also issued in response to a June 2008 ruling by the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States, which found sufficient evidence to conclude Gambian authorities had improperly detained Manneh.

In the interest of transparency and to relieve the anguish of Manneh's family, which deserves to know his fate, we call on you to fully disclose your knowledge of Manneh's fate and to order all appropriate investigations into his case.

We look forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Joel Simon
Executive Director

Souce:cpj.org