PRESS RELEASE
 
Gambia Press Union-U.S. Branch Condemns Conviction of Fatou Jaw Manneh
 
 
The Gambia Press Union – USA branch condemns in the strongest possible terms the conviction and sentencing of US based - Gambian Journalist Fatou Jaw Manneh by the Gambian authorities. Fatou, current deputy Secretary General of GPU-USA, was arrested at Banjul airport on March 28, 2007 and falsely charged with sedition, publication of false materials by the Jammeh regime. For a period of over one year, she was unjustly paraded from one court to another with each court claiming to have no jurisdiction over the case.  Eventually she was brought back to Magistrate Buba Jawo of the Kanifing Magistrates court who had initially dismissed the case base on a supposed lack of jurisdiction. This time around, however, Magistrate Jawo went ahead to try and convict Ms Manneh.
 
We believe that Magistrate Jawo’s ruling on Fatou’s case was heavily influenced by a regime that holds our country’s justice system hostage and appoints puppet judges to carry out its nefarious mission of subjugation and oppression. We hold Magistrate Jawo guilty of aiding and abetting President Jammeh’s undermining of the independence and impartially of the Gambian judiciary. In the process he has compromised his integrity by yielding to pressure by the Jammeh dictatorship to convict an innocent journalist. His conviction of Ms. Manneh, a strong woman and brave journalist for simply speaking her mind on the state of her beloved nation is simply disgraceful. 
 
Magistrate Jawo’s conviction of Fatou Jaw Manneh is typical of jungle justice meted out to other journalists, to press freedom, and to the rule of in The Gambia since Yahya Jammeh seized power in a military coup in July 1994. In December 2004, veteran journalist Deyda Hydara, an uncompromising critic of the Jammeh dictatorship was brutally gunned down a few yards away from a police station. On April 10 and 11, 2000, at least a dozen school children and one radio journalist were brutally gunned down by soldiers in broad daylight. Scores of Gambian journalists have repeatedly been brutalized by the Jammeh regime for simply carrying out their professional duties as journalists, one of the latest examples being the case of Chief Ebrima Manneh, who disappeared after being arrested by Gambian security forces over two years ago.
 
GPU USA recognizes that our citizens’ collective freedom of expression and dignity have been suppressed for far too long. Fatou's conviction sets an ugly precedence for all Gambians living abroad, and in essence, officially puts us all in permanent exile. Our freedom to express our opinions in matters relating to our nation is under serious assault. It is therefore urgent for all Gambian journalists and freedom loving citizens to rally behind Fatou and join in a universal condemnation of the brutal regime of Dictator Yahya Jammeh. 
 
We also ask the international community to join us in sending a clear message to the Gambian authorities that no amount of harassment and intimidation can silence our voices of dissent. Fatou's case serves as a clear example that Gambian journalists have never and will never tolerate the systematic oppression habitually meted out to journalists by the Jammeh regime and its puppet judges. We call upon all journalists to rally around Fatou Jaw Manneh and show the Jammeh dictatorship that attacking the freedom of one of us is equivalent to attacking all voices of dissent in our country. We reserve the right to oppose and condemn in the strongest terms possible any violation of our rights by a regime that specializes in breaking the very laws it is sworn to uphold. Our pens are more sharpened today than ever before.
 
 
Signed on behalf of the GPU-USA:
 
Demba Baldeh, Public Relations Officer
 
Baba Galleh Jallow, Secretary General
 
Cc:
 
Online Gambian Media
Gambia Post Forum
Gambia-L Forum
Media Foundation for West Africa
World Association of Newspapers
International Press Institute
Committee to Protect Journalists
Reporters Without Borders
Journalisterne, Denmark
Article 19
International Federation of Journalists
Commonwealth Press Union
Liberian Observer


      

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