FOROYAA Newspaper (Serrekunda)
6 July 2009
'Representatives from Amnesty International, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) will this afternoon petition the Gambian High Commission in London to put a stop to the trial of seven journalists that is scheduled to begin in the Gambia today.
As a letter is handed in at the High Commission in Knightsbridge, protesters will be demonstrating outside on the street with placards.
The London protest is part of a series of demonstrations organised by the International Federation of Journalists which will be happening outside Gambian Embassies across the world, including Paris, Brussels, Stockholm and Rome.
Members of the Gambia Press Union (GPU) including the Vice President Sarata Jabbi-Dibba and the General Secretary Emil Touray, along with editors and a reporter were arrested by the National Intelligence Agency last month.
Their arrest followed the publication of a Gambian Press Union press release in The Point and Foroyaa newspapers. The release criticised the way that the President of the Gambia spoke about fellow journalist Deydra Hydara, a former press union president and editor of The Point newspaper who was murdered in 2004. It also reminded the government that no serious investigation has been made into Deydra Hydara's murder and that no one has been brought to justice.
The journalists have been charged with three counts of seditious publication.
Later today Amnesty International, the NUJ and the TUC will hand in a letter to the Gambian High Commission in London, urging the President to stop the trial and release the men. The letter expresses concern at the increasing deterioration of freedom of expression in the Gambia, and demands that the charges against the seven are dropped and the case dismissed.
Editor's note: Solidarity messages were also received from The New York based Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) and Accra based Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA) in support of the seven journalists facing sedition and defamation charges in The Gambia.
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