Fatou-Jaw Manneh’s Case in Chaos
By Ebrima G. Sankareh, Editor-In-Chief
Journalist Fatou Jaw-Manneh
After one year of manifest judicial incompetence, lacklustre juridical arguments over jurisdiction and undue arm-twisting from the powers that be; US- based-Gambian journalist Fatou Jaw Manneh returned to the Kanifing Magistrate’s Court on Monday, March 17, 2008 with hopeful anticipation that her libel case was going to proceed. When the case was called and defense attorney Lamin Jobarteh and client stood up, state prosecutor Marley Woods rose and shocked the jam-packed courtroom that Ms. Fatou Jaw-Manneh’s case file was missing and that they were vigorously searching but could not lay their hands on the file. Moreover, she told the court, the Director of Public Prosecutions who handles this trial for the state, was at the High Court and could not attend Fatou’s case for today. She then asked for an adjournment.
Trial magistrate Buba Jawo told the court that he could not adjourn the case without any documentary evidence to base the adjournment on. There must be proper documentation before me; otherwise, I cannot adjourn a case without a file Magistrate Jawo reportedly told the state prosecutor. In what our correspondent describes as “visible embarrassment” the trial magistrate then asked that Fatou and her lawyer go until when her file is found. Asked if that may mean sine die, our correspondent says it means she could wait for a week, one month, three months, one year…”
It could be recalled that the US-based freelancer for various pro-democracy outlets was picked up at Banjul’s International Airport a year ago as she returned to her native Gambia to pay homage to her deceased father. She was aboard a transit flight from the Senegalese capital Dakar with erstwhile Foreign Secretary Bala Garba Jahumpa and his successor Crispin Grey-Johnson who was Secretary for Tertiary Education at the time. While circumstantial evidence suggests that the NIAs were acting out of a tip-off from Washington and its peripheries, there is now new evidence to suggest that a conversation among Fatou, Bala Garba Jahumpa and Foreign Secretary Johnson at Dakar’s VIP lounge; may have precipitated the witch-hunt that saw her detained, and now on this roller-coaster trial saga. The Gambia Echo will refrain from reporting on what allegedly transpired at the Dakar Airport among the trio until the conclusion of this kangaroo trial. For now though, the news is that the case file is missing and until that is situated, Fatou’s precious time and education continue to suffer major set backs.