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| Abdoulie John, the Gambian editor of online paper JollofNews who was yesterday arrested by the National Intelligence Agency.Photo | BABOUCARR CEESAY |
The editor who was attending a ceremony in
Tambakunda village, near the Senegalese province of Casamance, was
arrested after having a confrontation with a State House photographer.
According to the JollofNews website, the Gambian government is back to its penchant of gagging the media.
“Upon their arrival in Tambakunda, the
photographer, Sulayman Gassama, demanded to know who invited John to the
occasion. Even though the journalist told the photographer to go and
ask the organisers, he insisted, forcing the journalist to tell him to
go to hell,” the online site reported.
According to sources, the NIA chief Numo Kujabi
then ordered his arrest and Abdoulie John was detained at the Sibanor
Police Station in Fonni before being taken to the NIA headquarters in
Banjul.
Journalists working with private media continue to
bear the brunt of media gagging in the West African nation, though
those working with pro-government media outlets also face some
restrictions.
Members of the civil society and human rights groups have since condemned the arbitrary arrest of the Gambian editor.
Earlier on Saturday police arrested the younger
brother of journalist Abubacarr Saidykhan without giving any reason for
his arrest.
According to the journalist, the police had a week earlier come looking for his brother Ousman Saidykhan at their home.
“On Friday, November 23, 2012, two officials of
the Gambia Police Force visited my compound in Ebo Town, in the Kanifing
Municipality, requesting to know my whereabouts from my family or else
they would be left with no options but to arrest my younger brother
Ousman so that he gives information about me to the authorities,”
explained Abubacarr.
Abubacarr Saidykhan is one of the two Gambian
journalists who applied for a permit to organise a peaceful
demonstration against the recent execution of nine death row inmates.
He was arrested, detained and charged with
conspiracy to commit a felony and incitement to violence. (Also arrested
charged with him at the time was this reporter, who is a representative
of the of Gambia Press Union).
Both journalists received death threats via email
from an unknown person describing themselves as a "patriotic" killer and
‘mofala jato’, which in the Mandinka language means the 'killer lion'.
Even though the state has dropped all the criminal charges against the two, they continue to receive threats.
Ousman, who is a recent high school graduate, is
still being detained by the police though he argues that he has no
information about his brother's whereabouts.
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