{"id":2497,"date":"2022-01-02T01:43:54","date_gmt":"2022-01-02T01:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/01\/02\/freedom-of-expression-in-the-gambia-a-quiet-transition-from-the-doldrums-of-notoriety-to-the-doorsteps-of-celebrity-media-foundation-for-west-africa\/"},"modified":"2022-01-02T01:43:57","modified_gmt":"2022-01-02T01:43:57","slug":"freedom-of-expression-in-the-gambia-a-quiet-transition-from-the-doldrums-of-notoriety-to-the-doorsteps-of-celebrity-media-foundation-for-west-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africannewspaper.net\/2022\/01\/02\/freedom-of-expression-in-the-gambia-a-quiet-transition-from-the-doldrums-of-notoriety-to-the-doorsteps-of-celebrity-media-foundation-for-west-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Freedom of expression in The Gambia: a quiet transition from the doldrums of notoriety to the doorsteps of celebrity – Media Foundation For West Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"
Because the Gambia goes to the polls on December 4, 2021, the MFWA\u2019s Senior Programme Officer for Freedom of Expression, Muheeb Saeed, throws mild on the exceptional progress that the nation has made within the freedom of expression area over the previous 5 post-Yahyah Jammeh years.<\/em><\/p>\n For his private involvement in, and endorsement of quite a few outrages perpetrated towards journalists, activists and outspoken opponents of his brutal regime, Yahya Jammeh was topped West Africa\u2019s King of Impunity by the MFWA in 2014.<\/p>\n Amongst Jammeh\u2019s star victims was Deyda Hydara, editor of\u00a0The Level<\/em>\u00a0newspaper and outspoken critic, who was shot and killed on December 16, 2004. One other emblematic sufferer was Chief Manneh, a journalist with the\u00a0Each day Observer\u00a0<\/em>newspaper. Manneh was arrested and detained by then Nationwide Intelligence Company (NIA) and ultimately disappeared. Musa Saidykhan, editor-in-chief of the Impartial\u00a0<\/em>newspaper, now defunct, was arrested and severely tortured in detention. The three turned the dismal emblems of Jammeh\u2019s brutal crackdown on the media. Threats couldn’t be taken calmly, and so a number of journalists fled the nation after receiving loss of life threats.<\/p>\n President Yahya Jammeh saved the justice system below his thumb and manipulated a largely partisan legislature to enact a raft of repressive laws aimed toward stifling dissent. In 2013, as an illustration, the Nationwide Meeting amended the Prison Code to extend the penalty for \u201cgiving false data to public servants\u201d (Part 114). The Jail time period for breaches was elevated from six months to as much as 5 years.<\/p>\n