EDITORIAL
LEAVE EDITOR MUSA SAIDYKHAN ALONE-YAHYA AND HIS GOV'T HAUNTED BY DEYDA'S
MURDER
Octoger 29, 2005
We are concerned about the safety of our colleague Musa Saidykhan,
Independent's Editor-in-Chief. We are urging dictator President Yahya
Jammeh and his thugs to spare the live of Musa Saidykan, who committed no
crime as far we know. Is it a crime for one to ask for external help to
pursue journalist Deyda Hydara's killer(s)? What is Yahya and his
government hiding? Did they know something we do not know? Leave Musa
alone. Musa did what is expected of any patriotic citizen, by making
Gambia's case known to the civilised world.

President Mbeki, like any other person must be shocked about the murder of
Hydara. That this government is not keen at pursuing the killer(s) of my
former boss and mentor Deyda Hydara. Yahya, you will be held responsible
for anything that happened to Musa Saidykhan and his family. The arrest of
Saidykhan had raised eyes brows among the civilised world. One would not
hesitate to conclude that your government is bent on frustrating
investigations into the death of Mr.Hydara. Despite the cover ups and
intimidation of Gambians, the truth will prevail sooner or later.

We at The ALLGAMBIAN, can comfortably say that the killing of our
colleague Hydara, will not go unpunished. The perpetrators of this heinous
crime must face justice. Facts leading to the said crime will emerge
gradually. We do not want to preempt our findings, but sooner or later
Gambians will be informed about our pace of investigations. We are piecing
facts together and once we are done, we will keep our readers posted. We
are privy of certain information, which Jammeh himself will be shocked,
when published by our leading online Newspaper. This is no bluff. We have
been pursuing Deyda's death and whoever is implicated will be exposed by
The ALLGAMBIAN. We have been talking to well trusted sources in the heart
of his government, who will not hesitate to spill the beans. We received
disturbing reports regarding Deyda's murder, which we will certainly
disclosed once we are done with our investigations. Our's will be totally
different from the NIA confidential report. It will be based on truth and
nothing but the truth.

>From now on President Mbeki, should know that Jammeh will not welcome his
fact finding team in Banjul. The arrest of Musa, is a clear indication
that this government is not willing to listen to Mbeiki. This is a sad
development. We expect any government that worth it salt to hail Musa for
being concerned about the killing of Deyda. This culture of intimidation
will not stop us from naming or pursuing the killers of Hydara. We are
determine to get to the bottom of this high profile murder. It is high
time for those whose hands are not clean to speak out. It is just a
matter of time, but these killer(s) will face justice one day.

Local journalists seeking to investigate Deyda's death should liaise with
us, since there is no free media environment to write about such stories.
We at The ALLGAMBIAN will be more than happy to network with any person or
group of individuals interested in tracking down the killer(s) of Hydara.

The Independent Newspaper and its local staff, had suffered all kinds of
atrocities under Yahya's rule, ranging from arson attacks, illegal arrest,
detention and death threats. Musa is doing all he can to keep that paper
going with the support of its proprietors Yorro and Baba. As rightly
stated by the Director of the Committee to Protect journalists CPJ'S Ann
Cooper, Musa should not be intimdated by Jammeh's bully boys"We're very
concerned about the apparent harassment of a journalist who is properly
drawing attention to the problem of impunity in the Gambia" Ms Ann Cooper,
said in a CPJ alert sent to The ALLGAMBIAN. She went on to add"Gambian
authorities should stop harassing Musa Saidykhan and instead devote their
attention to solving these crimes." This is indeed a fact. The
preoccupation of the APRC government, should be how to bring Deyda's
killer(s) to book and not to harass innocent people like Musa.

One thing we do know is that, Yahya is an enemy to the private press. He
will do whatever it takes to hang us, as he repeatedly said during the
forced Media Commission registration. He branded some of us who refused to
register as fools, who "would be given a rope to hang themselves." Jammeh
also said journalists who refused to register with the commission should
go to hell. Myself and the late Deyda Hydara wasted no time to debunk
Yahya's irresponsible threats. Our reaction was well documented in the
Point Newspaper. Deyda was killed some months later for reasons best known
to the master-minder(s). Jammeh's rope is still hunting us. I was on
record for having said that "I don't mind going to hell, if that was the
price for defending press freedom." Deyda also made similar remarks. He
once said he will be more than happy if killed during the line of duty as
a journalist. We never hide our feelings against Yahya and his repressive
government.

On a final note, we are urging Yahya Jammeh to leave local journalists
alone. Arresting and detaining journalists will not save you from being
sent packing. Gambians will soon be liberated. Freedom day is coming. We
rest our case.



Copyright © 2004 AllGambian.Net. All Rights Reserved.
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