Although this pardon is likely to lower tension, we believe that the six journalists are innocent and were the victims of a “mercenary justice” remotely supervised by President Yahya Jammeh.

Emil Touray, Sarata Jabbi-Dibba, Pa Modou Fall, secretary general, first vice president and treasurer respectively of the Gambia press Union (GPU), Pap Saine and Ebrima Sawaneh, managing editor and news editor of The Point newspaper respectively, and Sam Sarr, managing editor of Foroyaa newspaper were sentenced to 2 years imprisonment for criminal “defamation” and “sedition” after a parody of trial. 

 The resort to arbitrary arrests, detention and torture of citizens including journalists is a gross violation of the right to free expression and access to information as enshrined in the Gambian constitution and other regional and international instruments.

While expressing satisfaction that the journalists have regained their freedom and are reunited with their families, MFWA wishes to urge The Gambian government to demonstrate its commitment to the rule of law and democratic governance by:

• Ensuring a proper investigation into the death of Deyda Hydra, a journalist murdered in 2004 by unknown assailants;
• Complying with the ECOWAS Court decision of June 5, 2008 in favour of Chief Ebrimah Manneh who disappeared in 2006;
• Desisting from intimidating, harassing and arbitrarily detaining journalists and media practitioners, and finally;
• Repealing all repressive media laws in the Gambia in conformity with international and regional instruments to which Gambia is a state party.

The Media Foundation for West Africa believes in the importance of the media in promoting human and democratic rights and once the media is cowed into inaction, any government can pursue acts of repression with total impunity.

We therefore call on all civil rights groups to stay vigilant and continue monitoring the media situation in The Gambia to ensure a free media and freedom of expression.

Issued by the MFWA, Accra, September 1, 2009

The MFWA is a regional independent, non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Accra. It was founded in 1997 to defend and promote the rights and freedom of the media and all forms of expression.

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