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| Journalist John recovers his laptop from NIA |
Press
freedom continues to elude journalists in Gambia. Currently under fire is Mr
Abdoulie John, a stringer with the US-based Associated Press (AP) news agency.
More than one month today, John who doubles as an editor of a Gambian online
news agency, JollofNews, is still battling for his freedom.
From
Dec.9, 2012 to
date, the journalist had been arrested and detained on two separate occasions
by the country's intelligence agency, NIA. Interestingly, all this while, he is
yet to know his crime, if any.
“I did nothing wrong," he says with a unique emphasis. "It is sad
to know that such things are happening in a country that is supposed to operate
democratically. This is part of harassment and intimidation by the state to
deny independent journalists to operate freely."
John's case had been condemned by media rights activists and concerned
international bodies who called on the Gambia government to let go off the
journalist.
But, typically, when it comes to allowing the press a bite on the cake of
rights and freedoms, the Jammeh administration doesn’t easily budge. And in
this case, as a result, Journalist John is left to shuttle almost as regularly
as a commercial vehicle between his home in Serrekunda and the NIA headquarters
in Banjul.
"It is now almost a month and this is the umpteenth time that I have
been reporting and the National Intelligence Agency seems to be embarking on a
sort of fishing expedition,” the former Daily Observer
deputy editor said.
His saga started when he went on an assignment to cover the release of
eight Senegalese hostages by MFDC rebels in December. There, he had a
confrontation with a State House staff photographer at a Gambian border village of Tamba Kunda. The photographer's authoritative-style
questioning of John as to who invited him to cover the event did not go down
well with the latter who felt the former has not authority to question him. A
commotion ensued between the two.
Then, John who claimed to be the
victim is apparently adjudged the culprit. For, he was not only denied coverage
of the event by Gambia’s
intelligence chief who was present on the ground, but he was also kept in a
confinement which he interprets as arrest.
Since
then, John has been under siege. Last week,
he was thrown behind bars for days for the second time in a month. In the
process of trying to link him to a crime, his house was searched and his laptop
computer screened and rescreened by state investigators.
On
Monday, however, he at least heaved a sigh of relief when he went to the NIA on
what has become a routine for him. His laptop was given back to him. And, he
said, he was asked to go home; that he would be telephoned to report whenever needed.
His traveler’s passport and electronic storage device - flash drive - however,
remains with the investigators.
Although
John was cautious to interpret this gesture from the NIA to mean his troubles were
over, nonetheless, he sounded upbeat that there would be light for him at the
end of the tunnel.
“One has to be optimistic,” he told me. “They searched my house, screened
my laptop and rescreened it, but did not find anything implicating. So I am
optimistic.”
Mr
Baboucarr Ceesay is the vice president of the Gambia’s media watchdog, Gambia
Press Union (GPU). He accompanied Abdoulie John to the NIA offices and shared
with me his take on this latest development.
"The release of John's laptop is a move in the right direction. In the
first place, he should not have been arrested, let alone been reporting on a daily
basis up to this stage. I hope actually they would drop the case.
"I think that is the most progressive thing to the state authorities
should do. The media should no longer be seen as an eyesore in this country. In
fact, we are partners in development. That is what all security apparatus in
this country have to understand."
Meanwhile,
for now, Journalist John has been allowed to melt into the comfort of his home
with an unsettled fate and a disturbing mental tag that any day he could be
needed, perhaps behind bars again.
Of
course, his saga, if records are anything to go by, offers a glimpse into Gambia’s media
landscape. Here, the press - especially independent press - is muzzled with
every available weapon - legal, political and economic.
With
an unresolved murder of a prominent journalist and disappearance of a young
journalist; violent attacks on media personnel and media outlets; arbitrary
closure of independent news media outlets; and draconian laws governing the
operations of the press, coupled with high taxes on media, perhaps it is
self-evident that Gambia, for almost the past two decades, could not graduate
from the unenviable rank of world's press predators.
Author, Saikou Jammeh is the editor in chief of the proscribed Daily
News. With his paper closed, he now freelances
for IPS news agency.
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