By Dahee Nam
Impunity Watch Senior Desk Officer, Africa

BANJUL, Gambia – Six Gambian journalists were jailed for two years on Thursday for publishing a statement criticizing the president.  They were convicted of six counts of defamation and sedition.

Those convicted include three executive members of the Gambian Press Union, two reporters from The Point newspaper, and one from Foroyaa newspaper.  One of the journalists for The Point also contributed to Reuters.  The journalists were sentenced to two-year prison term and heavy fines after criticizing President Yahya Jammeh’s declaration that the government was not responsible for the 2004 death of prominent journalist Deyda Hydara.

Hydara, the editor and co-founder of The Point and the Gambia correspondent for Agence France-Presse, was killed by unidentified gunmen in his car on the outskirts of the capital city of Banjul in December, 2004.  He was also a member of Reporters Without Borders, which advocates freedom of the press.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists condemned the sentencing was a “politicized judgment,” saying that it “reflects a partisan judicial system controlled by the president.”

Gambia is regularly criticized for violating press freedom.  President Jammeh warned journalists last month against tarnishing Gambia’s image.

“Any journalist who thinks that he or she can write whatever he or she wants and go free, is making a big mistake. … If anybody is caught, he will be severely dealt with,” Jammeh said in a television interview.

“Nobody can write or say anything that does not favor Yahya Jammeh and his government. The few people who do it have been sentenced to jail or have been arrested or have been harassed, some of whom are not even journalists.  Even thought it’s the six journalists who have been sentenced to jail, it’s the whole issue of expression that is now dead, so to speak. That is now in a very serious situation,” Gambian journalist Amie Joof said.

For more information, please see:

BBC – Gambia Media Jail Terms ‘Unjust’ – 07 August 2009

Guardian – Six Journalists Jailed in Gambia – 07 August 2009

VOA – Six Gambian Journalists Jailed for Sedition – 07 August 2009

AFP – Six Gambian Journalists Jailed for Criticising the President – 6 August 2009