Breaking News:Freedom Newspaper Editor-in-Chief Omar Bah addresses
Internation Institute of Rhode Island
"With that situation at hand, the Gambian people lacked the relevant
information they needed. Efforts had to be made by independent minded
journalists to balance the situation by providing the Gambian people with
alternative news; Gambia needed an independent media outlet that would
freely practice balanced journalism; the Gambian people needed to have a
media outlet that the state could not control like it did to the already
existing media houses. These culminated in the establishment of an online
newspaper based in the United States called the *Freedom Newspaper*, in
early 2006.  The paper is being edited and published by exiled Gambian
journalist in the United States, Pa Nderry M'bai while I emerged as its
Banjul Bureau Chief facilitating the writing of stories and passing of
newsworthy information to the editor in the United States via email. In as
much as we were fighting for free information to the Gambian people, I and
my team in The Gambia were very cautious and had to do our work undercover
under strict confidentiality. Our identity meant danger for our lives as we
succeeded to reach out to the Gambian readership by giving them the most
needed and balanced type of information, a publication of which was seen
critical by The Gambia Government. Soon, the *Freedom Newspaper* became very
popular. The reason was simple. We gave the Gambian people what they wanted
to read and not what the government wanted them to read. While the physical
tabloids in The Gambia were printing about 2000 copies each, a day,
the *Freedom
Newspaper* was receiving at least 10,000 hits on a daily basis. Only the
editor in the US operated in the open while the rest of us operated under
strict confidentiality. I was working at the *Daily Observer* while
simultaneously working for the *Freedom Newspaper* which made me able to
access more information to write for the *Freedom Newspap*er. Whenever
stories the *Daily Observer* management deemed critical and unpublishable
came to my desk as news editor, my conscience as an independent minded
journalist would not allow me to let it go unpublished. So I would rather
forward it to The *Freedom Newspaper*. The government soon became so
concerned and suspicious about the growing popularity of the *Freedom
Newspaper* and wanted to know which journalists were actually writing for
the paper. Consequently, unbeknown to us, the Government had started a
fight. It hired hackers who invaded the private files of the paper and
accessed its list of subscribers accusing them of being its informants. The
hackers placed a statement attributed to Editor M'bai on the homepage of the
*Freedom Newspaper* claiming he had decided to reveal his sources and stop
publishing the paper. Though M'bai almost immediately resumed control of his
paper dismissing the statement attributed to him as a smear campaign against
him by the hackers, Gambian security personnel went ahead to arrest all
those people, tortured and released some of them when they realised that
those were not the actual informants. Following the state's failure to
establish who the actual informants of this online publication were, the
hackers continued their job and, on May 29, 2006, finally succeeded in
accessing my email correspondences with the *Freedom Newspaper* editor and
then forwarded it to the Gambia's National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and a
Gambian online chat forum – *The Gambia Post*, exposing me to the whole
world,."says Omar Bah Editor-in-Chief of the leading US based Freedom
Newspaper. Mr.Bah was addressing the prestigious board meeting of the
internation Institute of Rhode Island. In this master piece speech, Bah
explained how he escaped death from the hands of Jammeh's hit men, the
government's illegal hacking of the Freedom Newspaper, his past role as the
Freedom Newspaper Banjul Bureau Chief, his past life at the Daily Observer
and a host of other topical issues. Bah who is about to release a book was
hailed by the cheering crowd who were highly touched by his passionate
speech. Below is full text of Editor Bah's speech. Please read on....
...............................................
By Editor-In-Chief Omar Bah

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to address this august borad
meeting. My name is Omar Bah. I am from The Gambia where Yahya Jammeh is
president.

  Born on the August 7, 1979, I completed high school education in June
1999. Immediately, I enrolled at the Gambia Technical Training Institute
(GTTI) for a two-year National Diploma-In-Law program which I successfully
completed in 2001. In the Institutes Open Day in 2003, I was awarded my
National Diploma-In-Law.

 Meanwhile, while I enrolled at the GTTI in 1999, I was engaged in a lot of
research and practical work as a young law student. As a result, I used to
spend a lot of time at the Institute's library reading law books and
newspapers. Also, I developed a habit of going to the High Court in the
capital, Banjul, to witness court sittings. This coincided with the birth of
a new privately owned newspaper, *The Independent*.

 Because of my interest in reading newspapers and witnessing court sittings,
in which newsworthy cases usually went uncovered, I offered to start
reporting for *The Independent* newspaper on prominent cases that interested
them. Soon, I developed a great interest in journalism in my capacity as a
part-time cub reporter. Thus, I had to adapt to a busier schedule of having
to both attend my lectures, and submit stories for the newspaper.

 By the time I completed my diploma course in 2001, I had already decided
that I wanted to be a journalist and thus went on full-time journalism. I
had already proven myself and thus, my editors did not hesitate to identify
me as their main court reporter. This work, I was able to execute diligently
due to my background in law and the few years of reporting experience. Apart
from the courts, I also reported on other areas including politics, which I
needed in order to widen my scope in the profession.

 Because I had chosen to be a journalist in The Gambia, a country so hostile
to journalists, I had also decided to face any possible consequences
journalists face in such an environment.

 Arrest and Torture

In July 2001, while I braved the consequences of attempting to cover the
court martial treason trial of a former presidential guards commander, Lt.
Landing Sanneh, at the Yundum Military Barracks in the outskirts of the
capital, a group of soldiers under the command of one Corporal Fullo Jallow
arrested me, dumped me into a cell and kept on torturing me for hours.
Luckily, a journalist from a sister-newspaper had seen the soldiers
maltreating me and reported the matter to my editors. Following protest and
pressure exerted on the national army leadership by my editors, I was
released before the end of the day with several wounds inflicted on my body.
I never gave up though. In fact, it strengthened my resolve and commitment
to the profession.


*Move to the Daily Observer*

In November 2002, I quit *The Independen*t and moved to the *Daily
Observer*newspaper. The
*Daily Observer* had just regained its independence from continual
interference by pro-government individuals, by the appointment of veteran
editor and independent-minded journalist, Sheriff Bojang, as its new
managing director. Thus, young journalists like me, were invited to join
hands in helping the paper regain its image and independence. Soon after
joining the *Daily Observer*, I was given the responsibility to anchor the
most read and critical weekly Question-and-Answer interview column, *Bantaba
*, which was part of the efforts to re-establish the papers independence. I
handled the column while simultaneously engaged in news reporting. In that
column, I interviewed at least one hundred (100) people including all the
opposition politicians, ruling party politicians, members of parliament,
heads of government departments, social and political commentators, civil
society activists, lawyers, journalists, diplomats and artistes. This column
gave the interviewees the opportunity to express their opinions on national,
social and political issues as well as answer to questions on accountability
regarding their respective works.

 In June 2004, I became the paper's news editor thus concentrating more on
the writing of the *Bantaba* column and editorial duties. Soon, I became a
subject of criticism from government circles by accusing me of allowing
opposition politicians and social critiques the print-space to criticize the
president that they deemed insulting. Because the * Daily Observer* is owned
by a business associate of President Yahya Jammeh, sympathizers and top
government functionaries started issuing out threats of sacking and
imprisonment on me, even though I was balanced and giving equal space to
both sides of the political arena. I still would not budge as I had the
support of my managing director, who himself, had special admiration of the
column and rated it the best in the paper.

 I started to face more troubles when my managing director left the paper
for greater educational pursuit abroad in 2005, leaving me and the *Daily
Observer*, helpless. It was apparent that with the 2006 presidential
elections approaching, and the absence of an independent-minded managing
director, the paper would soon be invaded by pro-government officials to
sell the image of the president for that impending election. It was also
apparent that the paper would soon lose its credibility and independence
once again.

 When the paper got two new bosses in October 2005 - managing director and
editor-in-chief, bad editorial policies where introduced. The managing
director, Dr Saja Taal, is a former administrative manager of the ruling
party's headquarters; while the editor-in-chief Mr Mam Sait Ceesay, still
doubled as the spokesman at the Office of the President. These people came
with policies purposely intended at pleasing the president and the ruling
party regardless of what the general readership would like to read. They
made it categorically clear that nothing negative of the president and his
party would be published in the paper even though they would orchestrate
regular attacks and insults on opponents of the ruling party.

One of the main pre-occupations of the new management was to censor my
interview column, *Bantaba*, insisting that I would only be allowed to
feature government and ruling party officials with 'favorable' questions and
not otherwise. My reaction to that decision was straightforward – I stopped
the column immediately. I would rather stop it than make myself a subject of
ridicule by being biased and partisan, taking into cognizance the respect
and recognition I had already earned with it. Since then, I refused to run
the column any more. Still now, the column is missing in the *Daily Observer
* print space. At some point, I even resigned in protest but that stipped at
the level of the deputy manager which encouraged me to stay.


*Displeasure*

The Government was displeased with me for a number of issues. One of such
was my membership of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) executive as first
assistant secretary general and therefore used to author some of the
correspondences and petitions on behalf of the GPU. The government was not
comfortable with me at all. Such letters and petitions included protests
against killings, arrests, torture and detention of journalists, arson
attacks on and closure of media houses. I used to participate in radio
programmes and campaigns for press freedom. In early May 2006, Madi Ceesay,
the President of the GPU and I, represented The Gambia at the West African
Journalists Association (WAJA) congress in Ivory Coast, during which I made
a statement regarding the bad state of press freedom in The Gambia. In
short, the government perceives the GPU and anybody associated with it as
antagonistic to and an enemy.


On March 21, 2006, there was an attempted military coup in The Gambia. Then,
there was no Voice Of America (VOA) radio correspondent in The Gambia and,
as a result, they started contacting me to give them updates as developments
unfolded in The Gambia in the wake of the foiled coup, on voluntary basis.
The VOA has a large audience in The Gambia and because I was reporting about
all events in The Gambia like the arrest and detention of soldiers,
journalists, then National Assembly Speaker, Sheriff Dibba, politician and
lawyer Mariam Denton, the government became so uncomfortable and unhappy
with such exposure. Despite threats from top government functionaries, I
continued to do the job for the VOA. That is why when my correspondences
with the editor of the online Freedom Newspaper were forwarded to the
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and a Gambian online chart forum\,; I
decided to flee the country for my life. I knew the government would use it
as an opportunity to get me. I was therefore not surprised when the
government declared me wanted. Because of my independent mindedness and
quest for balanced journalism, they had always seen me as a stubborn person
who would not budge but expose the corrupt practices of the government and
other ills in the country. I know I would not have been alive by now if they
had caught me. I could even see it in their level of despair after my
escape.


*Establishment of the Freedom Newspaper*

The situation of the media in The Gambia has deteriorated to a level that
dissent is totally restricted and impossible. The newspaper I worked with,
the *Daily Observer*, is government controlled though it is privately owned.
Almost similarly, the other daily paper in the country, *The Point*, is
almost government controlled, though not directly as the case of the *Daily
Observer*. The founder editor of that paper, Deyda Hydara, was gunned down
by men believed to be state security personnel on December 16, 2004. Shortly
after that, the government ordered the paper to stop the publication of the
late Hydara's critical column; 'Good Morning Mr President' (the old articles
of which were being reprinted by the paper at the time) and the paper
complied. Since then, it has been very careful about what it publishes.
These are the two daily papers in the country and the other regular and
popular paper, the bi-weekly *The Independent* newspaper, had suffered some
occasional breaks because the State Guard soldiers burnt its machine. It was
later forcibly closed down by the state.

 With that situation at hand, the Gambian people lacked the relevant
information they needed. Efforts had to be made by independent minded
journalists to balance the situation by providing the Gambian people with
alternative news; Gambia needed an independent media outlet that would
freely practice balanced journalism; the Gambian people needed to have a
media outlet that the state could not control like it did to the already
existing media houses. These culminated in the establishment of an online
newspaper based in the United States called the *Freedom Newspaper*, in
early 2006.  The paper is being edited and published by exiled Gambian
journalist in the United States, Pa Nderry M'bai while I emerged as its
Banjul Bureau Chief facilitating the writing of stories and passing of
newsworthy information to the editor in the United States via email. In as
much as we were fighting for free information to the Gambian people, I and
my team in The Gambia were very cautious and had to do our work undercover
under strict confidentiality. Our identity meant danger for our lives as we
succeeded to reach out to the Gambian readership by giving them the most
needed and balanced type of information, a publication of which was seen
critical by The Gambia Government. Soon, the *Freedom Newspaper* became very
popular. The reason was simple. We gave the Gambian people what they wanted
to read and not what the government wanted them to read. While the physical
tabloids in The Gambia were printing about 2000 copies each, a day,
the *Freedom
Newspaper* was receiving at least 10,000 hits on a daily basis. Only the
editor in the US operated in the open while the rest of us operated under
strict confidentiality. I was working at the *Daily Observer* while
simultaneously working for the *Freedom Newspaper* which made me able to
access more information to write for the *Freedom Newspap*er. Whenever
stories the *Daily Observer* management deemed critical and unpublishable
came to my desk as news editor, my conscience as an independent minded
journalist would not allow me to let it go unpublished. So I would rather
forward it to The *Freedom Newspaper*. The government soon became so
concerned and suspicious about the growing popularity of the *Freedom
Newspaper* and wanted to know which journalists were actually writing for
the paper.

 Consequently, unbeknown to us, the Government had started a fight. It hired
hackers who invaded the private files of the paper and accessed its list of
subscribers accusing them of being its informants. The hackers placed a
statement attributed to Editor M'bai on the homepage of the *Freedom
Newspaper* claiming he had decided to reveal his sources and stop publishing
the paper. Though M'bai almost immediately resumed control of his paper
dismissing the statement attributed to him as a smear campaign against him
by the hackers, Gambian security personnel went ahead to arrest all those
people, tortured and released some of them when they realised that those
were not the actual informants. Following the state's failure to establish
who the actual informants of this online publication were, the hackers
continued their job and, on May 29, 2006, finally succeeded in accessing my
email correspondences with the *Freedom Newspaper* editor and then forwarded
it to the Gambia's National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and a Gambian online
chat forum – *The Gambia Post*, exposing me to the whole world.

 Some of my articles to * Freedom Newspaper* that  were accessed by the
hackers included stories about the harbouring of separatist rebels from
neighbouring Senegalese region of Cassamance and the admission of their
wounded ones at the Gambia's main hospital, the Royal Victoria Teaching
Hospital (RVTH), by the Jammeh Government (President Jammeh comes from the
same Jola tribe as the inhabitants of Cassamance and is believed to be
backing the rebels, a phenomenon he would never allow the Gambian media to
write about); the torture of soldiers under detention and the braking of
their arms for allegedly attempting to overthrow the government in March
2006; a quarrel between the president and his mother over his
maladministration of the country as a result of which she collapsed and
subsequently got hospitalised for high blood pressure; detention of
government opponents incommunicado; corruption; and many other cases of
administrative malpractices by the Jammeh regime.


Thank God, I escaped from the being killed by Africa's worst dictator today.


Thank you all for your kind attention and and for giving me the opportunity
to address this august body.

Posted on Monday, June 25, 2007 (Archive on Monday, July 23, 2007)
Posted by PNMBAI  Contributed by PNMBAI
Return <http://www.freedomnewspaper.com/Homepage/tabid/36/Default.aspx>

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