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CPJ condemns media rights abuses

    NIAMEY

    The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has expressed concern over recent
    violations of the rights of the media in Gambia and Cote d'Ivoire including
    detentions, interrogations,dismissals and the prosecution of one journalist on a murder charge.

    In Gambia, the CPJ has concluded that attacks against journalists are not
    "isolated incidents, but part of a systematic campaign to suppress reporting on issues of legitimate public concern."

    It cites the case of Madi Ceesay, a journalist for the Banjul-based weekly
    'Gambia News and Report'. Ceesay, assigned to cover United Democratic Party (UDP) activities, was arrested on 17 June following a clash between
    supporters of the ruling Alliance for Patriotic Reorientation and
    Construction (APRC) and the opposition UDP in which one APRC activist died.

    Ceesay and several UDP members were charged with murder although he was
    later released on bail, CPJ reported. It added that the ongoing harassment
    of independent journalists in Gambia continued.

    In Cote d'Ivoire, military ruler General Robert Guei, in the
    aftermath of what he described as a "failed coup" last week, warned local
    journalists to be "careful" because they would now be severely punished for
    politically motivated "bias" and "distortion of facts" in their reporting, CPJ said.

    The warning was issued last week shortly after the ruling junta shut down the offices of the private broadcaster 'Radio Nostalgie' allegedly for allowing mutineers to voice their protest on the air.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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