Intelligence Agency At It Again! Independent Managing Editor Picked Up

The Independent (Banjul)
NEWS
June 16, 2003
Posted to the web June 16, 2003

By Pk Jarju
Banjul

The Managing Editor of The Independent was on Friday picked up and
subjected to intense questioning by officers of the National Intelligence
Agency (NIA) over a Friday front page article, quoting unconfirmed reports
that two Gambian fans had been killed in post-match violence in the border
towns of Karang and Amdalaye.

Alagi Yorro Jallow was whisked away by a waiting pajero, bearing dark
glasses and a numberless plate. Its occupants were three gentlemen from the
NIA who said they were merely carrying out orders from their unnamed
superiors, who wanted clarification from Mr. Jallow.

Mr. Jallow's arrest was over a story captioned "Two reported killed in
border class", in which it was reported that some Gambians had visited the
offices of The independent, Wednesday, complaining over what they perceived
to be the government's deliberate effort to conceal "the truth" over the
alleged death of Gambians in the football violence.

Narrating his experience Mr. Jallow stated that he was ushered into the
presence of the NIA deputy Director General Momodou Suso, Salimina Drammeh
its Director of Operations and another officer identified as Singhateh who
began punching questions at him over what they saw as the unsubstantiated
nature of the story. According to Mr. Jallow who saw arrest for the
umpteenth time the NIA had expressed reservation over the veracity of the
story, which they described as "sensitive" without corroboration by the
relevant authorities.

Jallow quoted himself as arguing that the story was not an inciting article
but an innocuous account gleaned from eyewitnesses to incidents in which
two Gambians were reportedly killed. He added that although the government
had denied the alleged death of two Gambians in Dakar yet the paper was
merely giving the benefit of the doubt to eyewitness accounts, which its
report had qualified as unconfirmed in the first place.

Jallow said after interrogations lasting several hours, the NIA demanded
from The Independent further clarifications particularly with the GPTC and
other relevant authorities. He was later released.

Meanwhile in his reaction, the paper's Editor-in Chief, Abdoulie Sey said
the summoning of the managing editor to the NIA was not the least
appropriate, since as the man responsible for the paper's contents, he
(Sey) would be the most appropriate man to clarify any given content as the
paper's Editor.

"The NIA always get the wrong man to clarify anything that should be
clarified. Yorro should be given a break," he said.




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