22 December 2004
LEADING JOURNALIST MURDERED, PARLIAMENT PASSES REPRESSIVE MEDIA LAWS
IFEX members are expressing alarm at the state of press freedom in The Gambia, where a leading journalist was recently murdered and two bills that impose harsh penalties on the media were passed in parliament.
On the night of 16 December 2004, Deyda Hydara was gunned down while driving home from the offices of his newspaper in the capital, Banjul. Two of his employees were injured in the shooting.
Hydara, 58, was the managing editor and co-owner of the private weekly "The Point." He was also a long-time correspondent for Agence France-Presse (AFP) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières, RSF), and the former president of the Gambia Press Union. He was married and had four children.
RSF, the Media Foundation for West Africa (MFWA), ARTICLE 19, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and the Writers in Prison Committee of International PEN (WiPC) have condemned the killing and are calling for a thorough investigation.
The murder occurred two days after the Gambian National Assembly passed two contentious pieces of media legislation that Hydara and other local independent journalists had strongly opposed.
One of the bills, which amends the Criminal Code, imposes mandatory prison sentences of six months to three years for media owners or journalists convicted of publishing defamatory or "seditious" material, without the option of a fine.
The amendment also calls for prison sentences of at least six months for those found guilty of publishing or broadcasting false news. In addition, the legislation allows the state to confiscate without judicial oversight any publication deemed "seditious."
The second bill, an amendment to the Newspaper Act, requires all print and broadcast media owners to register with the government and to sign a statement - or bond - of 500,000 dalasis (US$16,700) that says they own enough money or assets to ensure
payment of any penalties imposed by a court for press offenses, including libel or sedition.
The original law stipulated a bond of 100,000 dalasis ($3,350). Local journalists say the exhorbitant costs of the bonds will discourage media development.
For the bills to become law, they must be signed by Gambia's President, Yaya Jammeh. CPJ, RSF and MFWA have written to Jammeh urging him not to sign the bills.
MFWA says independent media in The Gambia have suffered threats, attacks and censorship since President Yaya Jammeh was elected in 1996. "The government has applied various draconian decrees and legislation, as well as sheer physical predation to intimidate, censure and muzzle the independent media ... and to limit the space for freedom of expression," the organisation says.
WHAT YOU CAN DO:
1) Write to President Jammeh expressing concern over the murder of Deyda Hydara and urging him not to sign the new legislation. See MFWA's action alert for tips:
http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/63363/
2) Stay informed. Visit these sites:
- MFWA:
http://www.mfwaonline.org/en/updates/details.php?objID=0091
- CPJ: http://www.cpj.org/protests/04ltrs/Gambia21dec04pl.html
- RSF: http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=12104
- ARTICLE 19: http://allafrica.com/stories/200412201170.html
- WiPC: http://www.internationalpen.org.uk/dev/viewArticles.asp?findID_=250
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