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The dark side of the sun
What the tourists don't see

For thousands of tourists each year, the Gambia is a sunlit paradise of beaches, warm sea and wildlife. They rarely glimpse its dark side. Media Defence Quarterly talks to a Gambian who did.

One day while driving her car Ndey Tapha Sosseh thought she was being followed. She had seen the same man and the same car too often in too many places for it to be a coincidence. But she wanted to be sure, so she took a characteristically brave decision and slammed on the brakes. The following car smashed into hers, whereupon she got out offering fulsome apologies. "Give me your name and I'll call the insurance," she said. "I must pay for the damage." Strangely, her follower demurred and left the scene.

Ndey, who was president of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) at the time, now laughs about the moment when she embarrassed the security services. "People think I'm a seriously mad woman!" she says of her daring act. But she no longer works in the Gambia. Unable to do her job there she now lives and works in Mali.

As a result she has more freedom to speak her mind than most of her former colleagues. "Don't expect journalists in the Gambia to talk to you," she says. "They're scared. Their mobile phones are tapped. Their emails are read, too."

Despite constitutionally guaranteed freedom of expression, relations between the government and press in the Gambia have been tense since President Jammeh swept to power as a result of a military coup in 1994. "Officials reads all the newspapers, even the president does so personally," says Ndey. "If they don't like what you write, you'll get a call from the police." The result for some has been long periods of detention without charge and without access to lawyers. Or even worse.

In May 2006, seven journalists, including a former president of the GPU, were arrested and detained for periods ranging from two weeks to five months, following what the government alleged was a coup attempt. None was charged or brought before a court. All claim to have been beaten and tortured by intelligence agents, some saying they were subjected to waterboarding. Most later went into exile.

Harassment of one sort or another is routine. Pap Saine, publisher of The Point newspaper, has faced three trials in the course of this year. Many journalists have received death threats, some signed by The Green Boys, a youth party affiliated to President Jammeh's ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and Construction.

The latest flashpoint in the continuous battle between the government and the press arose out of the unsolved murder five years ago of Deyda Hydara, the co-owner and managing editor of The Point newspaper (see "Who killed Deyda Hydara?" on the right). And a courageous advocate of free speech. His murder in 2004 and the failure to bring the murderer or murderers to justice have caused wide outrage.

Last June, in response to this feeling, President Jammeh made contemptuous comments about Hydara, suggesting he was killed by the jealous husband of a lover. Jammeh said his government "has long been accused by the international community and so-called human rights organisations for the murder of Deyda Hydara, but we have no stake in the issue. And now one of these stupid websites carries 'Who killed Deyda Hydara?' Let them go and ask Deyda Hydara who killed him."

Following these comments Ndey circulated a press release from the GPU which accused the president of lack of concern about the murder, describing his remarks about Hydara as "unreligious" and "un-cultural" and saying they discredited "traditional African norms and values."

"There was nothing new here," says Ndey. "I had raised all of these points before." But she suspects the reason for the strong reaction which followed was that this time Jammeh was criticised personally, whereas previously criticism had been directed more generally at his government.

The GPU statement was published in The Point and in another independent newspaper, Foroyaa, on 15 June, and on the same morning three senior GPU officials were called in for questioning. Later in the day two members of staff of The Point were also called in, and the editor of Foroyaa, Sam Sarr, was picked up from his office. They were detained incommunicado until 19 June, when they appeared before a magistrates court, charged with sedition. They refused to enter a plea because they had been denied access to legal counsel.

Ndey approached the MLDI, which agreed to pay the full cost of legal fees the first time around for all of the accused, except for one who decided to represent himself, and a prominent defence lawyer, Lamin Camara, undertook to defend them.

The legal system in The Gambia is notoriously slow and many suspected that the trial of the six journalists would drag on. Events, however, moved much faster than anticipated. On 6 August the journalists were convicted on six counts of sedition and defamation and sentenced to two years in prison. A further fine of 250,000 Dalasis (US$10,000) was imposed on two of the six counts. Human rights groups and external bodies like the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, the European Union presidency and the US State Department reacted with swingeing criticism, a presidential pardon was issued on 4 September and the six journalists were released.

President Jammeh said the pardon was given in the spirit of Ramadan, which encourages Muslims to be forgiving. But the next day he was reported as saying that the media should "desist from being seditious and remember they are accountable." This prompted the African Commission on Human and People's Rights, which is based in the Gambia, to condemn the human rights situation in the country and threaten to move its next meeting, due this month, from Banjul to Addis Ababa unless President Jammeh withdrew his remarks.

Meanwhile, Ndey continues to speak out on issues related to governance and freedom of expression: "I don't make all this trouble because I think I'm smarter than anyone else," she says. "I do it in the hope that if ever I became a victim someone would speak out and cause trouble on my behalf."