Banned Books Week
GAMBIA
Chief Ebrima B. Manneh
Reporter in incommunicado detention
NEW! Petition (PDF)
Chief Ebrima B. Manneh, a reporter with the newspaper Daily Observer, has been held in incommunicado detention without charge or trial for over two years. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience, subjected to enforced disappearance and unlawful detention.
The arbitrary arrest and incommunicado detention of journalists has become commonplace in the Gambia since an alleged coup attempt in March 2006.
Chief Ebrima B. Manneh was arrested in July 2006 at the offices of the Daily Observer by plainclothes officers, thought to have been from the National Intelligence Agency (NIA), although the NIA has denied any involvement. Reports suggest that he is being held at Fatoto Police Station in Eastern Gambia.
Family members have not seen him since his arrest, but sightings of him have been reported, including at a hospital in Banjul where he received treatment for high blood pressure at the end of July 2007, escorted by members of the Gambian Police Force. Nevertheless, police continue to deny any knowledge of his whereabouts. After repeated attempts by his father and many fellow journalists to find out what happened to him, the Government issued an official statement on 21 February 2007 denying any involvement in Chief Manneh?s arrest or subsequent fate.
There are several conflicting reports to explain the arrest. According to some sources, Chief Manneh was arrested following a disagreement with Dr Saja Taal, the managing editor of the Daily Observer and a close ally of President Jammeh. Other sources claim that he was arrested after he had made contact with a foreign journalist before the July 2006 Summit of the African Union in Banjul, and accused of giving that journalist information deemed damaging to the country?s image. Other sources link his arrest to his alleged attempt to print a report critical of the government in the Daily Observer.
On June 5, 2008, the Community Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Nigeria declared the arrest and detention of Chief Ebrima Manneh illegal and ordered the Gambian authorities to release him immediately, restore his human rights, including his right to freedom of movement, and pay him $100,000 in damages. ?We commend the ECOWAS court?s decision, which is an important step in the fight against impunity in the region,? said Gabriel Baglo, Africa Office Director of the International Federation of Journalists. ?We urge all the member states to put pressure on Gambian authorities to implement the court decision.?
Please call for the immediate and unconditional release of Chief Ebrima B. Manneh, prisoner of conscience, and urge an end to harassment and intimidation of journalists for engaging in their legitimate professional activities.
Dr A.J.J. Yahya Jammeh, President
Private Mail Bag, State House
Banjul
The Gambia
Salutation: Dear Mr. President
Ambassador Tamsir Jallow
Embassy of The Gambia
1424 K Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20005
Salutation: Your Excellency
Airmail postage abroad: 94¢
