ECOWAS Court adjourns hearing on Gambian government request for review of two landmark judgements
(MFWA)
The ECOWAS Community Court in Abuja, Nigeria, on September 26, 2011 adjourned
indefinitely its hearing of applications for reviews of two landmark
judgements brought before it by Gambian authorities involving two Gambian
journalists.
The first relates to the illegal
arrests and torture of Musa Saidykhan, a former editor-in-chief of banned The
Independent newspaper. In the second case, the
Gambian government was ordered to release Chief Ebrima Manneh, a foreign
editor of privately-owned pro-government the Daily
Observer newspaper and compensate him, costs
were awarded against the authorities in both cases.
After more than a year of non-action
by the authorities to either acknowledge or investigate the human rights
violations of the journalists, Media Foundation for West Africa’s (MFWA)
brought the legal action on behalf of Saidykhan and Chief Manneh.
The Gambian authorities stated in
their applications that they were “dissatisfied” with both judgements.
According to the application regarding
Saidykhan, which was filed on March 31, 2011,
the Gambian authorities claimed there was “miscarriage of justice since the
court failed to properly appraise the evidence on record.” They also said the
award of “US$200,000 to the Plaintiff (Saidykhan) is outrageous since there
is no evidence on record to show the basis upon which the amount was
calculated”.
They raised issues with why the currency had to be in United
States Dollars and not the Gambian Dalasi “given that the plaintiff is a
citizen and at all times a resident of The Gambia.”
In response, Saidykhan’s counsels drew
the attention of the court to the fact that the defendant has violated
Article 92 of rules of the court, which gives three months period within
which judgements of the court could be challenged. The Gambian
authorities filed their application on March 31, 2011; 15 days after the
period had elapsed.
On the issue of the currency, Saidykhan counsels argued
that “once breach of fundamental human rights is established Plaintiff need
not prove damage hence no basis for any arithmetic precision as to the way
and manner the Court arrived at the decision of $200,000... Additionally,
there was no provision in the rules of the court which spells out substantive
currencies in resolving disputes between parties”.
In the case of Chief Manneh, The
Community court in July 2008,
ordered the Gambian government (who refused to enter an appearance) to
release Chief Manneh, and pay him a compensation of US$ 100,000 for the
violation of his human rights.
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
Website: www.mediafound.org
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