Gambia charges U.S.-based reporter with sedition
Wed 4 Apr 2007, 16:52 GMT

 BANJUL, April 4 (Reuters) - A U.S.-based journalist appeared in court on
Wednesday in her native Gambia charged with sedition over online articles
critical of President Yahya Jammeh.

Fatou Jaw Manneh was detained a week ago at the tiny West African
country's airport after she arrived to visit family.

She was charged with intention to commit sedition, publication of
seditious words and publication of false news intended to create public
fear and alarm.

The court prosecutor accused Manneh of publishing an October 2005 article
which said Jammeh was "tearing our beloved country to shreds" and also
described him as "a bundle of terror".

A court in Kanifing near the capital Banjul released her on bail of 25,000
Gambian dalasi ($900) until April 11.

Manneh, who is in her late 30s, worked on Gambia's pro-government Daily
Observer newspaper in the late 1990s before going to study in the United
States.

Now living in Washington DC, she has written stories for opposition
websites critical of Jammeh's government.

Gambian authorities periodically detain journalists who criticise Jammeh,
a former coup leader who said after his re-election last year he would ban
any newspaper that offended him.

Press freedom watchdogs have criticised Gambia's government for detaining
journalists, often without charge, and demanded further investigation into
the 2004 killing of prominent journalist Deyda Hydara, who was shot dead
in his car.

Official inquiries into the murder have so far been inconclusive.

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