Banjul, The Gambia Journal

Gambia UPDATE: Gambian's minority leader asks the government to free Chief
Ebrima Manneh

The Minority leader in The Gambian Parliament, Momodou Sanneh on July 3,
2008 called on the government of President Yahya Jammeh to respect the
ECOWAS court ruling by releasing Chief Ebrima Manneh, a detained reporter of
the Banjul-based privately-owned government-controlled newspaper.

The Daily Observer in its Friday, July 4 edition reported Sanneh as saying
in a meeting between the Gambia Press Union (GPU) and the leadership of the
Gambian National Assembly that the ECOWAS court had finished with Manneh's
case and that "it is now left to the government to deal with" the ECOWAS
court's order.

Following a suit filed by the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), the
ECOWAS Court on June 5, ordered the Gambian government to immediately
release Manneh and pay him US$100,000 as compensation for violating his
human rights.

Despite this ruling the Gambian government is silent on the matter.

Meanwhile there is growing pressure from within the Gambia for the release
of Manneh.  His father has renewed his call for his son to be released
without further delay.  He said several efforts made by him to get the
authorities to release his son have hit a snag.

At a press briefing to mark the second year of Manneh's "disappearance", the
Network of Human Rights Journalists (NHRJ) condemned his continued detention
and challenged the authorities to respect the Gambian Constitution.

"We are seriously concerned about the continued "disappearance" of our
colleague, and are calling on the authorities to conduct a thorough
investigation into the (matter) and ensure his immediate release", said the
NHRJ.

In a press statement on the matter the GPU lamented that "following a year
long protracted court case in which the Government of The Gambia was served
many notices and five security officials subpoenaed to appear before the
Courts, Chief Manneh continued to languish in detention without any attempt
by the state to conduct any investigation or appear before the ECOWAS Court
to clear any doubts".

Manneh has so far spent 732 days in detention without trial after his arrest
on July 7, 2006 by two plainclothes agents of the notoriously feared
National Intelligence Agency (NIA) in the presence of his colleagues.

MFWA' sources say the then Managing Director of the Daily Observer, Sajal
Taal masterminded his arrest.

Prof. Kwame Karikari

Executive Director