|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
For the past weeks, the case of two Gambian journalists has been making headlines over a legal battle with the President, Adama Barrow. The editor of Voice Newspaper, Musa Sheriff, and his deputy, Momodou Justice Darboe, have been dragged to court on charges of false publication and broadcasting. With The Gambia Police now taking the lead in this case, what was to be a civil case has now turned into a criminal one.
Background
On September 23, the Voice Newspaper published the story “Barrow Chooses Muhammed Jah As Successor As Pres. Works on Exit Plan – Sources.” According to the story authored by Momodou Justice Darboe, sources revealed that Barrow planned on stepping down as the National Peoples Party’s flag bearer and has chosen a Gambian business tycoon, Muhammed Jah, as his successor. The key leaders of the NPP party who were interviewed and quoted in the story refuted this claim, referring to it as hearsay and false.
This claim came after the President had already said he would contest in the 2026 elections when the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) is advocating for its member states to stick to two-term limits.
The Voice story went viral, and two days later, the President, through his lawyers, threatened to sue the paper. Parts of the demands were for the story to be retracted and an apology be given within 24 hours to the President for the “defamatory” article published.
Image of Letter from Barrow’s Lawyers to Musa Sheriff
“The story that The Voice newspaper published about the President’s successor is not defamatory, nor is it malicious. The newspaper relied on sources to report the story. Some of these sources are top NPP members and President Barrow’s surrogates.
“If the President is disturbed by or dislikes the story, he has uncountable ways to refute it. But he has no basis to sue the newspaper. Whoever told him to take this intolerant action has severely ill-advised him, putting the Office of the President into disrepute.
“If the President could threaten the media for their coverage of him, then it means the President is denying the media from performing its constitutional duty to hold him accountable; hence, the President is raising himself above accountability to the Gambian people. I urge Musa Sheriff not to retract nor apologise for the story and stand ready to go to court. I shall stand with you on every court day,” human rights activist Madi Jobarteh wrote.
Whilst the majority are in solidarity with the journalists, and a few have seen the President’s reaction as valid, the major fear is that this may be the beginning of another era of horror for The Gambian press.
Barrow using Jammeh’s intimidation tactics?
President Barrow’s predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, was widely known for using state security to threaten and intimidate persons he saw as opponents, including journalists.
In the absence of an apology from The Voice Newspaper following the threat of legal action, Musa Sheriff and Momodou Justice Darboe were invited to the police station for questioning on September 26. After hours of interrogation, the editor was released and asked to report back to the police with all the company documents, whilst his deputy was detained and charged with false publication and broadcasting under section 818A of the Criminal Code.
On September 28, Darboe was granted bail at 25,000 Dalasis. When Musa Sheriff reported back to the police on September 30, he was also detained and charged with false publishing and broadcasting, and he was granted bail at 30,000 Dalasis.
Calls for the ‘illegal’ Charges to be Dropped
Several individuals, including politicians and activists, condemned President Adama Barrow’s actions, describing them as illegal. The involvement of the police in this case has been questioned as there is no criminal dimension to the publication made by the Newspaper.
“More disappointing is that they have reportedly been charged with false publication and broadcasting. It is evident from the publication that they also published denials of the other side and allowed NPP leaders to react.
“All objective readers can see that there was no attempt to tarnish the image of the President. It was a speculative report about the political future of the President. The President should avoid being perceived as using state security to persecute his personal grievances. Threatening civil action through a lawyer and simultaneously arresting the proposed defendant clearly tells Gambians that this is a personal matter of concern to the President, and he is using his power to pursue it. This is not right,” the mayor of Kanifing Municipal Council, Talib Ahmed Bensouda, wrote, showing his solidarity with the journalists.
Barrow’s main opposition, Ousainou Darboe, likened this to Jammeh’s tactics and called on the Inspector General to drop these charges.
“Seedy Touray, drop this case. You are doing the NPP’s fight for your brother-in-law, Adama Barrow, because you are married to his sister. This is why people are losing respect for the police. And that is why I advise you, Mr Touray, to withdraw the case, because you are supporting your brother-in-law,” Darboe said, speaking to reporters.
The Gambia Press Union strongly condemned the arrest and detention of the journalists, and other international journalist organisations joined in.
“The story in question, reviewed by the GPU, does not carry any defamatory statements. It upholds the principles of balance and fairness in news reporting as provided for in the Cherno Jallow Charter of Ethics for Journalists (the code of conduct for Gambian journalists) and has provided space to two senior officials of the President’s party, the National People’s Party, to reply to claims.
“The paper also carried a story on September 24 in which the party’s administrative secretary denied claims that President Barrow had settled for a business tycoon as his successor. According to the police, the news story “allegedly contains misleading information intended to cause public alarm. However, the GPU found nothing alarming about the report…,” GPU said in a statement.
The State Versus The Journalists
Now that the editor and reporter were facing charges of false publication and broadcasting, their case was handed over to the Special Criminal Division of the Gambia Police Force. After completing their investigation, the matter was forwarded to the police prosecution unit. On Monday, October 8, the journalists appeared in court, where they pleaded “Not Guilty’ to the charges. The prosecution did not object to the bail of the accused persons, and therefore, the Magistrate allowed for their bail at 100,000 Dalasi before adjourning the case to October 31st.
Barrow Versus Musa Sheriff and The Voice
In less than two weeks, Barrow has also filed a civil suit against the editor of the Voice Newspaper, Musa Sheriff, and The Voice Media Company at the High Court. According to reports, the affidavit of the suit is signed by Seedy Njie, deputy speaker of the National Assembly and the deputy spokesperson for the National People’s Party. Njie’s nomination as the deputy speaker of the National Assembly by Barrow was heavily criticised and described as an insult to the victims of Yahya Jammeh due to the roles he played under the former regime.
According to reports, Njie claims in the affidavit that he did not grant Musa Sheriff an interview and that he was misquoted. The defendants are to appear in court on October 25th to hear the claims against them, and they are to enter their defence, if any, within 30 days of being served.
Persecution of Journalists
Journalists were amongst the most persecuted under the regime of former President Yahya Jammeh. There have been reported cases of murder, unlawful arrests and detentions and enforced disappearances of members of the press.
The Truth Reconciliation and Reparations Commission, the commission that investigated the human rights abuses and violations that occurred between July 1994 and January 2017, heard several testimonies on the victimisation of journalists during the past regime. According to the Commission’s report, there have been over 140 arrests and detentions of media practitioners during Jammeh’s regime.
Even though this government trumpets itself as the most tolerant regime, this recent case reminds the people of the country’s ugly past. On September 26, at the 79th United Nations General Assembly meeting, Adama Barrow made claims that there had been no jailing of political prisoners, including human rights defenders and journalists, in the country since 2017. Dubawa has proven this claim to be false. Our findings concluded that GPU has recorded six cases of arrests and detention of journalists from 2017 to date.
When Barrow’s government took over, it was hoped that laws such as sedition and false publication would be erased from the Constitution.
These are some of the things that constitute their campaign promises. In 2018, ECOWAS ruled that all anti-media-related issues be removed, particularly sedition and false news. However, these laws continue to exist, giving Barrow the same dictatorial powers as his predecessor.
