Ndey Tapha Sosseh focuses on Press Freedom in Gambia

Press freedom....

Jammeh has been accused of restricting freedom of the press. Harsh new press laws were followed by the unsolved killing of Deyda Hydara, editor of The Point newspaper and Gambia correspondent for Reporters Without Borders and the French news agency AFP. Hydara, who had been mildly critical of the Jammeh regime, was brutally gunned down in December 2004. Alhagie Martin, one of Jammeh's closest military aides, has been named in connection with Hydara's killing. It has, however, not been possible to verify the allegation linking Martin with Hydara's slaying. It is widely believed that Jammeh is responsible for Hydara's murder. [19] Jammeh has denied that security agents were involved in the killing.In April 2004 he called on journalists to obey his government "or go to hell". In June 2005 he stated on radio and television that he has allowed "too much

expression" in the country.

A British couple resident in Gambia for 12 years were convicted of sedition for writing private emails critical of the president to friends back home[21]. They were sentenced to one year imprisonment with hard labor, and the woman was released after serving her year, while the man remains imprisoned.[22]
As of December 2009, internet web sites critical of the government are blocked, such as the US-based Freedom Newspaper.

Alleged human rights abuses

On April 10 and 11th, 2000, the government was accused in the killing of 12 students and a journalist during a 'student demonstration' to protest the death of a student in The Gambia. Jammeh was accused of ordering the shooting of the students, but the government denied the allegations. A government commission of inquiry reportedly concluded that the Police Intervention Unit (PIU) officers were "largely responsible" for many of the deaths and other injuries. The inquiry also revealed that five soldiers of the 2nd Infantry Battalion were responsible for the deaths of two students at Brikama. The government stated that the report implicated several PIU officers in the students' deaths and injuries yet those responsible had still not been brought to book.
Newspaper reports list dozens of individuals who have disappeared after being picked up by men in plain-clothes, and others who have languished under indefinite detention for months or years without charge or trial. The regional Economic Community of West Africa (ECOWAS) court ordered the Gambia government to produce one journalist who was disappeared.
Jammeh has been linked with the 2004 massacre of 44 Ghanaian migrants and 10 other ECOWAS nationals.
An online petition has been started in the hopes of the International Criminal Court indicting him for crimes against humanity.

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[Samaita80]

Courageous woman, we pray for your safety above all. It's encouraging to see people that stand up for what they believe is right.

[SolarBody]

Ndey-Tapha, Listen to these sincere words from a former friend of yours: You call for Gambia's donors to pull the plug, hinging reasons on a lack of press freedom. Ndey, do you know the amount of press cencorship in the U.S, a precious prototype of your revered mantra? Don't you find it a burlesque of a profession where a preponderence of Gambia's so-called journalists have never sat in a journalism class, or possess as less a whit of a reputable education? I studied and worked journalism!