Gambia detains AP reporter
2013-01-08 09:51
Johannesburg - A Gambian journalist who contributes to The
Associated Press was held by security officials on Monday night, according to
the Gambian Press Union.
Reporter Abdoulie John went to the National Intelligence
Agency offices for questioning on Monday afternoon but he was not released,
said Lamin Jahateh of the press union, who had accompanied John to the security
agency headquarters in the West African country's capital, Banjul.
Security officials later took John to his home and searched
it on Monday, according to Jahateh who spoke to family members. John remained
in the custody of the security agents and had not returned home by night.
John, the editor of the website JoloffNews and a contributor
to AP, was previously held overnight by security on 7 December after he covered
the release of Senegalese soldiers by a rebel group. AP had been invited to the
event and assigned John to cover it.
John said the Gambian
president's photographer questioned his presence, and an argument ensued. Since
that incident John has been questioned several times by the intelligence agency
but he has not been charged with any crime.
"AP protests the latest detention of Abdoulie
John," said John Daniszewski, AP's senior managing editor for
international news, speaking from New York. "John was properly assigned to
cover the story and he has answered the same questions several times. We do not
understand why authorities continue to question him."
The International Federation of Journalists has
"vigorously condemned the harassment" of John and called on Gambian
government to stop trying to intimidate him.
Gambia is one of Africa's smallest and poorest countries
with a population of about 1.8 million people. President Yahya Jammeh has ruled
the country since he came to power in a coup in 1994. Human rights groups have
accused the government of Gambia of carrying out arbitrary arrests, summary
executions and torture in recent years.
- SAPA
