CPJ Condemns Arson Attack on Newspaper

Committee to Protect Journalists (New York)
PRESS RELEASE
April 13, 2004
Posted to the web April 13, 2004
New York

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemns today's early-morning
arson attack on the printing press of the private, Banjul-based biweekly
The Independent.

According to local sources, at around 3 a.m. this morning, six armed men
stormed the building housing The Independent's printing press in Kanifing,
a suburb of the capital, Banjul. The men fired shots inside the building
before dousing equipment with gasoline and setting it ablaze.

Journalists who arrived on the scene shortly after the incident said the
assailants had attempted to lock employees inside the burning building, but
that all staff members escaped. Three were injured when they struggled to
free themselves.

The Independent's printing press had only been operating for three months.
All of the newspaper's printing equipment, and all copies of today's
edition, were destroyed in the attack.

This is not the first time The Independent, known for its feisty criticism
of the government, has come under attack. In October 2003, three
unidentified men set fire to the newspaper's main offices, forcing staff to
relocate temporarily. The Independent Editor-in-Chief Abdoulie Sey said
that the newspaper's management decided to separate their printing press
from their main office after the October attack.

Despite promises of a police investigation into the October fire, The
Independent has received no word from authorities about progress in the
case.

Sey told CPJ that the latest attack would not keep the newspaper from
publishing or affect its editorial stance. Journalists at the paper are
currently working on Friday's edition, which they hope to publish with the
help of other media houses.

Sey also said that Gambian Interior Minister Sulayman Masanneh Ceesay
visited the newspaper's office today to assure employees that a thorough
investigation will be conducted. The editor also told CPJ that the
inspector general of police had contacted The Independent by phone to
reiterate this assurance.

Both attacks on The Independent closely resemble an August 2000 arson
attack on the offices of the independent station Radio 1 FM that injured
several journalists and forced the station off the air for two days.
Sources at Radio 1 told CPJ that, almost four years later, there has been
no movement on the investigation into the incident.

"These brutal attacks on Gambian media outlets, which appear to be in
reprisal for critical journalism, are totally unacceptable," said CPJ
Executive Director Ann Cooper. "We call on Gambian authorities to bring the
perpetrators to justice, thereby sending a message that such attacks will
not be tolerated."

CPJ is a New York-based, independent, nonprofit organization that works to
safeguard press freedom worldwide. For more information about press
conditions in Gambia, visit www.cpj.org.

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