Gambia News : US senator questions Gambia's human rights
Aug 05,2008 00:00
by
Anna
A senior United States Senator has
scolded The Gambia government over its appalling human rights records,
especially with regard to numerous mistreatment of journalists. Last
week, Democratic Party Senator, Richard J. Durbin, informed his
colleagues at Dublin House about gross violations of human rights in
the small West African country. Senator Durbin, also an Assistant Majority Leader of the US Senate, said "my direct request to the Gambian Embassy here in Washington had also been met with shameful silence."
He had picked on the government for its deliberate refusal to appear before the ECOWAS court, let alone defend itself, during the just-concluded trial of an illegally detained Gambian reporter, Chief Ebrima Manneh.
"Is The Gambian government so afraid of one its own reporters that it cannot even acknowledge his detention?" he asked. "I say to President Jammeh: release this reporter. Let him return to his family".
"Sadly, Manneh's case is not an isolated one in The Gambia. In December 2004, a critic of President Jammeh, and press freedom advocate, Deyda Hydara, was shot and killed. His murder is yet to be solved or investigated," he said, urging the US Senate to be "a forceful advocate for these kinds of blatant human rights abuses. Doing so is not only the right thing to do, but it is the smart thing to do in terms of our engagement abroad and in demonstrating our American values."
Senator Durbin's call followed a similar one by The Gambia's Minority Leader last month. Mr. Momodou Sanneh asked the government to "deal with the matter" once and for all.
Mr. Manneh, a reporter of the pro-government 'Daily Observer' newspaper had been illegally detained since July 2006 without being charged or brought before the courts. The government had continuously denied holding him, despite being arrested by plaincloth officers at his office.
On 5 July, a subregional court ordered the government to release Manneh and compensate him US $100,000. However, this request also fell on deaf ears.
The Accra-based Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), one of the media watchdogs confronting press freedom violations in The Gambia, sued the government on Manneh's continued detention.
The MFWA is delighted that the world is gradually aware of the "abominable human rights situation" in the country. It encourages human rights defenders, press freedom advocates and civil society in general to intensify their advocacy, since that is one of the "surest forms of protection for journalists and individuals who seek to exercise their rights to freedom of speech and expression."